No trip to rural China was without scenes of plastic bags gathering like patches of white snow. No city street was clear of bags blowing through the air.

A year after the government enacted the Regulation on Limiting Production; Sales and Usage of Plastic Shopping Bags, pollution is slowly clearing from the country's landscape, but still some habits are hard to break.

On June 1 last year, all stores- from major supermarkets to small shops- were banned from giving out free plastic shopping bags to customers. The production and sale of bags thinner than 0.025 millimeters was also prohibited, however, thicker plastic bags are still allowed but at a price consumers must pay.

The law encouraged millions of Chinese to switch from plastic to fabric or other reusable bags. Most retailers obeyed the ban to avoid a fine of up to 10,000 yuan (1,464 U.S. dollars).

"Environmental awareness among customers has risen noticeably. About eight in 10 customers carry their own bags when shopping and less than 20 percent of customers pay for plastic bags," says Ji Honghui, manager of a supermarket owned by the Dannis retail group based in Zhengzhou, capital of central Henan Province.

Before the ban, Ji's store gave out more than 15,000 free plastic bags each day. Now it sells about 200 plastic bags a day.

Nationwide, the use of plastic bags at supermarkets is down an average of 66 percent since the ban, according to a survey released on May 20 by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association.

That means, since June, 40 billion fewer plastic bags have been given out at supermarkets, the survey showed.

Zhang Boju, head of the research department of Friends of Nature, the first non-government environmental organization in China, said the use of plastic bags at supermarkets fell from 1 billion a day before the ban to 200 million or 300 million a day now.

Before the ban, another 2 billion bags were given out each day at places other than supermarkets, according to the China Plastics Processing Industry Association.

Most of the positive results, however, are seen only in big cities.

Countryside stalls still provide customers with free plastic bags, many of which are the banned ultra-thin bags.

"Almost all dealers offer free plastic bags," says Li Ming, a vegetable store owner at a farm produce market on the edge of Zhengzhou.

"I don't dare charge my customers for plastic bags because of the competition. If I charged them, I would offend them and lose them.

A bundle of vegetables is just worth just a few jiao. How can I charge customers for a plastic bag?" he asks. One jiao is equivalent to 0.1 yuan (1.5 U.S. cents).

Vendors usually offer ultra-thin plastic bags, supplied by thousands of illegal workshops, to customers because they are cheap, costing less than half of one U.S. cent. Legal, thicker bags cost around three U.S. cents depending on size.

In Henan, home to hundreds of underground bag factories, an industry insider told Xinhua the number of makers rose quickly after the June 1 ban because of low investment and technological requirements as well as a wide supply gap following the closure of major factories.

"Setting up a workshop usually costs less than 100,000 yuan and one bag making machine might bring in up to 10,000 yuan in profit a month," said the workshop owner who required anonymity before granting an interview.

The government's regulation forced the closure of many major manufacturers, including China's largest plastic bag producer, Huaqiang, based in Henan. As a result, many technicians began to set up or work for underground workshops.

"We shut down our two factories because more than 90 percent of the products were restricted," said Wang Hongbing, formerly Huaqiang's general manage, who is now head of a new plastics company called Huiqiang. It makes the legal, thicker plastic bags.

"We are struggling," Wang said. Squeezed by illegal factories and higher production costs, Huiqiang is running at its half capacity, making about 30,000 tons of plastic bags a year. That's a tenth of Huaqiang's annual output before closure.

Wang wants the government to level the field for manufacturers with production licenses.

"The plastic bag ban has a strong legal affect on us. But more than 90 percent of small manufacturers and workshops turn a blind eye to it. Related governmental departments should crack down on these illegal producers," he said.

The nationwide ban, including a check of underground workshops, was enforced and supervised by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC).

Dong Jinshi, environmentalist and vice-director of the Packing Resources Utilization Commission of the China Packing Association, says authorities should take responsibility for being unable to check production and sales of banned plastic bags. Vendors were also to blame because they won't stop handing out bags for fear of losing customers.

Xie Zhenhua, NDRC deputy director, last week admitted problems with illegal manufacturers and lack of enforcement in rural areas.

The SAIC agreed and said it began handing out more fines for violators in March. Since then, it checked some 250,000 retailers and more than 2.3 million small businesses across the country. The SAIC confiscated about 260 million illegal plastic bags and 1,250 manufacturers and dealers without licenses were punished.

On the eve of the first anniversary of the ban, Xie said the NDRC and the SAIC was preparing to jointly launch a one-month special national inspection campaign to solve problems and improve implementation of the regulation.

Still, local officials admit the difficulties of wiping out illegal workshops, which often hide in the countryside or suburban areas.

Xu Junyan, head of the NDRC's branch in Suiping, where Huiqiang was based, says the county authority had turned off power to illegal factories and even destroyed their equipment.

"They are very mobile and move their machines around to various places, so they are often difficult to catch," Xu said.

Miao Aichen, an official with the Henan Administration for Industry and Commerce, said authorities had made major achievements in urban areas but still had work to do in China's countryside as consumers there have not been receptive to change.

"The plastic bag ban aims to change the long-developed habit among people, therefore it has a long way to go," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2009)