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The other anti-social effect of plastic bags
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