By staff reporter LI YAYUAN

Jiang Nan, a full-time mother in Beijing, keeps a dozen or so cloth bags at home, carefully selecting one or two before heading out to get groceries. “Most of them were give-aways from advertising marketing campaigns, but others had been handed out in the street by various environmental protection organizations,” she explained. Every two days she goes to the grocery store or the fresh produce market, and carries her purchases back in these cloth bags.

Since June 2008 China has prohibited the production, sale and usage of plastic shopping bags thinner than 0.025 millimeter, and retailers are not allowed to provide free plastic bags to their customers, regardless of the thickness.

Many Chinese consumers like Jiang have learned to shun plastic bags whenever possible in their shopping. “A bag may only cost a few jiao (10 jiao is one yuan), but its more about how bad they are for the environment,” Jiang said. “When I dont buy too many items, I usually just carry them by hand. I wont pay for a plastic bag unless I end up buying a lot, and I happened to have forgotten my cloth bags at home. When I do, I try to expand the value from it by turning it into a garbage bag later.” Jiang admits she has become stingy with plastic bags after they added the charge.

On the first anniversary of the plastic ban Global Village of Beijing, an NGO environmental organization, and International Food Packaging Association released the results of a survey conducted by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association, which showed that during the year of the ban the consumption of plastic bags fell by approximately 40 billion pieces in chain supermarkets alone, saving more than 1.2 million tons of petroleum.

Strict enforcement of the rule requires the compliance of the whole public. Jiang Nan noticed that the majority of people in her neighborhood now carry textile bags to shop at the local produce market. And the vendors have been good about not offering plastic bags for free, for fear that any violation of the rules may result in a fine.

According to the market manager Mr. He, all businesses at the location are required to use plastic bags that meet state standards. A large one is priced at two jiao, and a small one one jiao, much higher than the flimsy type that prevailed in the market before the plastic ban. Most vendors discourage the use of plastic bags. Mr. He admitted that the plastic ban was met with aversion among both vendors and buyers in the early days, who felt that it would be an inconvenience, but have since come around to the idea.

There are still those who dont have an interest in living green. Cui Lin, another Beijinger, often forgets to bring a textile bag from home when shopping, and has to buy plastic bags. “Anyway I think plastic bags are neater and cleaner, and I dont mind paying a couple more jiao,” he shrugged.

Those who do keep cloth bags in their handbags at all times still find that plastic cannot be avoided completely. For instance, vegetables in produce markets are mostly stained with mud, so tend to make a mess of the cloth bags that hold them. Fresh meat and frozen foods also tend to need separate impervious packaging, for which plastic is obviously the best choice.