Valid from June 1, retailers are banned from giving free plastic bags to their customers. And the production and distribution of ultra-thin plastic bags are also prohibited.

A move to reduce the use of plastic bags as well as the pollution caused by these bags, the ban won positive comments from the public, the academia and the global community as well.

Some media reports suggest that the use of plastic bags has been significantly reduced after the ban. And some have applauded the satisfactory implementation of the rule.

Under this new rule, costumers have to pay for the plastic bags. In financial sense, it means collecting taxes from their users although the money is now pocketed by the retailers.

As mentioned above, many may stop using plastic bags for the extra cost on top of their use in supermarkets or shopping malls because they have always got them free of charge.

However, the minor cost would not be strong enough to change people's choices. It is possible that costumers would accept paying for plastic bags and the number of these bags will stay at its original level. After all, they do not have an alternative as convenient and inexpensive as plastic bags.

Admittedly, plastic bags pose threats to the environment: they take hundreds of years to degrade and plastic particles from such bags and other plastic goods contaminate seawater, land, and air throughout the world.

But the popularity of the plastic bag across the world is a choice of businesses, customers and the market for decades. Plastic bags are easy to clean and carry, they are water-proof and most importantly, inexpensive.