So what if the plastic bags decomposed in just 3 months. An editor at the Asahi Shimbun opined that plastic shopping bags are NOT the biggest problem. Some 30 billion shopping bags that weigh several hundreds of thousands of tons are NOT the problem.

A survey by this editor revealed -

1. 83% of those who get plastic bags reuse (recycle?) them as liners for their kitchen garbage cans.

2. 80% also used the plastic bags to line their waste baskets.

3. 43% find yet other ways to reuse the little buggers.

5. A mere 0.8% just threw them away.

In the absence of plastic bags for this purpose, most said they would buy garbage bags for the same purpose or reuse newspaper.

Not a few people reused the plastic bags when they went shopping. Many are opting to buy a lot of the cheap plastic bags instead of the more costly heavy plastic bags. In other words…collecting money for plastic bags at the supermarket is just another way to, well, make money. The bags are already being reused, recycled. What’s the big deal?

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Beijing has a national ban on the use of ultra-thin plastic bags as part of its “habit revolution.” The until now free super-thin plastic bags have been replaced by thick plastic bags that must be bought for about ¥10 ($1.50). Or, shoppers can bring their snazzy green tote bags. Because it is so hard to determine the thickness of a bag with the naked eye, China’s Ministry of Commerce has instigated the use of “checkers” (not the game) to determine a bag’s thickness.

We wonder, can they really measure the thinness of a bag? In any event, this is a big step in not being wasteful. Especially when there are tens of millions of people not using umpteen plastic bags a day. Add to Beijing southwest China’s Yunnan province will also ban plastic bags beginning January 1, 2009. Good job, China!

“Hey you! You with that plastic bag. Bring it over here so I can use my handy dandy plastic bag thickness checking micrometer.”

“Uh, okay.”

“Yo, dude. This bag is too thick. You get a verbal warning. Next time, it’s the lethal injection van for you.”

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