A wholesale market in Beijing has started a pilot campaign to discourage the use of plastic bags, 40 days ahead of the scheduled plastic bag ban. Many welcome the move, while others worry about its effectiveness. Our reporter Shuang Feng has more.

Reporter:

Chinese shoppers in the 1980s used cloth bags or baskets to tote their purchases. Now the trend is experiencing a resurgence.

Starting last Sunday, vendors in Beijing's Glorious Land Wholesale Market are charging extra for plastic bags as a test run of the approaching ban. Dealers believe this will help reduce the use of plastic bags.

Shen Yue'e, a wholesaler at the market, says she will try her best not to hand out plastic bags.

"If the consumers insist, I will give them the plastic bags. Otherwise, for the sake of reducing pollution, I won't."

White pollution has become a concern as Chinese consumers have grown accustomed to free plastic bags since shopkeepers began offering them more than a decade ago.

However, many consumers have welcomed the pilot campaign with open arms and have managed to strike a balance between convenience and environment-friendliness.

"I brought it from home. Certainly it's better than plastic bags, because cloth bags are washable, and can be reused for a long time. It's also very convenient. Plastic bags have to be discarded. They are just a waste."

"I always use cloth bags. I'm an environmentalist. It's very convenient, especially if you are going somewhere far away. Plastic bags, particularly the colorful ones, may contain toxins that are harmful to our health."

But some vendors worry the pilot ban may not be as effective as expected. Liu Xueming, a herb wholesaler, expressed his doubts about the move.

"They will use it if they have to. People probably won't care that they must pay 10 or 20 extra cents. The ban won't work unless we stop producing the bags altogether. But I think people also need time to get used to it."

It is estimated that millions of plastic bags are used every day in China, and billions of yuan are spent every year handling and recycling them. Plastic bags, if biodegradable at all, take 300 years to break down.

The State Council in January ordered a complete ban on the production and use of ultra-thin plastic bags that are not biodegradable. It will officially go into effect on June 1. The pilot campaign will hopefully eliminate the use of 10 million plastic bags by then.

Shuang Feng, CRI News.