Monday, 03 March 2008 19:23

The other anti-social effect of plastic bags

Written by
Hot on the heels of the news that Marks and Spencer's move to banish the plastic bag has British prime minister Gordon Brown eyeing-up Ireland's bax-tax comes a report in the Guardian noting 20,000 jobs lost in China after the closure of a plastic bag factory.
The Chinese government is currently fighting the so-called 'white pollution' of plastic bags with a ban on free bags and a total ban on bags less than 0.025 millietres thick.

 

The shutdown of Suiping Huaqiang Plastic, which employs 20,000 people, highlighted the social costs of a government drive to clean up one of the world's most polluted environments.

 

The closure of the factory which has made 20,000 people unemployed was hailed by campiagning organisations including Greenpeace and Earthwatch.

Last modified on Tuesday, 04 March 2008 23:00
Published in Blogs
Jason Walsh

Jason Walsh is Ireland correspondent of the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor newspaper and has contributed to other publications including the Irish Examiner, the Irish Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the Sunday Times, the Washington Times, El Mundo, PressEurop and USA Today.

back to top