Starting June 2008, China will ban shops from handing out free plastic bags. Wish we could get that done here!

I reuse paper bags until they are as soft as cloth, then use them one last time to bag my recycle paper. Amazing how often I have to stop the store clerks from putting products in individual plastic bags before they put them in my paper bag. Example: unscented soap is wrapped in plastic to prevent it from drying out, then packaged in cardboard box, but they want to put in a plastic bag!

I still am a big fan of Ireland's policy, that is, you want a plastic bag? You pay a five cent "tax" on it which goes into a fund to support parks and such. Perhaps I'm jaded, but I don't ever see a ban or a tax going over too well in the US--people here just feel too entitled. But yay for China.