Today, the "plastic limit order" is officially implemented, and China says goodbye to the era of free plastic shopping bags. Starting from June 1st, all supermarkets, malls, farmers markets and other retail establishments will implement a paid-use system for plastic shopping bags, and will no longer provide them for free.
Retail establishments must not provide plastic bags for free
Starting from June 1st, the plastic shopping bags that consumers have been used to using for free will begin to be charged. According to the Notice on Restricting the Production, Sale and Use of Plastic Shopping Bags issued by the General Office of the State Council, starting from June 1st, it is forbidden nationwide to produce, sell, and use plastic shopping bags with a thickness of less than 0.025 millimeters; all supermarkets, malls, farmers markets and other retail establishments will implement a paid-use system for plastic shopping bags and will no longer provide them for free.
The Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce jointly issued the Management Measures for the Paid Use of Plastic Shopping Bags in Retail Establishments, stipulating that starting from June 1 this year, if retail establishments do not clearly mark the price of plastic shopping bags, or provide them to consumers for free or disguisedly free, they will face a maximum fine of 10,000 yuan.
The official said that stipulating the paid use of plastic shopping bags is one of the means to enhance public environmental awareness, aiming to guide and encourage the public to use plastic shopping bags reasonably, promote comprehensive utilization of resources, and protect the ecological environment.
No transition period for restricted plastic bag use
Dai Jiankai, Director of the Department of Commercial Reform of the Ministry of Commerce, clearly stated that the "plastic limit order" will be firmly implemented according to the deadline, without setting a transition period. The plastic shopping bags subject to charges refer to those provided by retail establishments that have carrying functions, while plastic pre-packaged bags used for fresh food, cooked food and other commodities are not included in the scope of paid use.
At the same time, the Ministry of Commerce is formulating detailed implementation rules for the Management Measures for the Paid Use of Plastic Shopping Bags in Retail Establishments (referred to as the Measures), which will be released soon. For content that is currently unclear, a special column will be opened on the website of the Department of Commercial Reform of the Ministry of Commerce to answer related questions.
Plastic shopping bag standards
The national mandatory standard for plastic shopping bags stipulates that the thickness of plastic shopping bags should not be less than 0.025 millimeters, and the body must be printed with clear environmental statements. The standard clearly categorizes plastic shopping bags into ordinary plastic shopping bags, degradable plastic shopping bags, and starch-based plastic shopping bags, making it convenient for consumers to identify and recycle them. Plastic shopping bags used for food must be marked with the words "for food use." Starting from June 1st, plastic shopping bags that do not meet the new standards will be prohibited from production and sale.
The standard also stipulates that the surface of plastic shopping bags should clearly indicate production information such as the factory name, address, and raw materials used by the manufacturing enterprise. In case of quality issues, it will help law enforcement departments trace the production source in time and penalize the manufacturing enterprises.
Price of plastic shopping bags: merchant self-pricing
According to the new national regulations, plastic bags are priced autonomously by merchants, following the principle of "not selling below operating costs."
An official from the Ministry of Commerce of China said that according to the Management Measures for the Paid Use of Plastic Shopping Bags in Retail Establishments, retail establishments can independently set the price of plastic shopping bags. Most enterprises suggest that the Measures specify the minimum price to avoid customer diversion caused by different pricing of plastic bags. In response, we believe that since plastic shopping bags do not fall under the situations specified in Article 18 of the Price Law where government-guided prices or government-set prices are applicable, they should legally be subject to operator self-pricing.
Of course, the official said, to prevent companies from setting their own prices too low, leading to the failure of the purpose of restricting and reducing the use of plastic shopping bags, we have limited the pricing principle of plastic shopping bags based on Article 8 of the Price Law (the basic basis for operators to set prices is the cost of production and operation and market supply and demand conditions), that is, the price must not be lower than the operating cost.