Dine-in service providers in Shenzhen are banned from providing nonbiodegradable single-use plastic utensils under new regulations released by the Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision and Regulation Bureau.
On Thursday, the city’s market regulation bureau issued a notice to further regulate the use, sales and production of plastic items.
Single-use plastic straws are prohibited in the city’s catering sector.
Single-use plastic bags are banned in supermarkets, retail stores, bookshops and pharmacies and for take-out food at restaurants.
In the exhibition industry, all kinds of events held in Shenzhen will also ban the use of single-use plastic bags, according to the regulations.
At the same time, retail stores are banned from providing free plastic bags for consumers. Moreover, free single-use chopsticks, and other utensils are banned in food delivery services.
In addition, the regulations specify that the thickness of plastic shopping bags should not be less than 0.025 millimeters.
After the notice’s release, a reporter with Shenzhen Special Zone Daily visited several shops and restaurants in the city to learn more about the situation.
At a Walmart outlet in Futian District, disposable plastic bags in two sizes are available at check-out counters, priced 0.5 yuan and 1 yuan (US$0.07-0.15), respectively.
Many consumers were found bringing their own bags instead of buying the store’s plastic bags.
“I will use a backpack during workdays if I also have a plan to go shopping so that I don’t need plastic bags,” said a woman surnamed Chen. A Walmart staffer also told the reporter that more shoppers now take their own reusable shopping bags.
At present, the city’s supermarkets, including Walmart, Carrefour and Hema Fresh, all have replaced their single-use plastic bags with biodegradable ones, said the report.
Carrefour also speculated that they are able to reduce 80 million disposable plastic bags a year, which is equivalent to reducing the consumption of about 1,000 tons of nonbiodegradable plastics, according to the report.