A number of consumer-facing environmental regulations will be put in place on May 1st. These include new rules banning Beijing restaurants and delivery services from providing disposable utensils unless requested by the customer, as well as prohibiting the city’s hotels from providing single-use plastic items in rooms.
From May 1, the Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau will focus on farmers' market shops, supermarkets and other retail sites and carry out a special three-month plastic bag rectification scheme to investigate and punish instances of the sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bags and the provision of free plastic shopping bags.
According to the new version of the "Beijing Municipal Waste Management Regulations," the thickness of the plastic shopping bag cannnot be less than 0.025mm. Commercial supermarkets and bazaars must not provide free plastic bags.
In addition to these plastic bans, Beijing will enforce mandatory garbage sorting citywide starting on Friday.
Citizens will now have to classify their domestic refuse into four categories: kitchen waste, recyclables, hazardous waste and other waste. Those who fail to sort trash appropriately may face fines up to 200 yuan ($28).
Four coloured trash bins green, blue, red and gray will be made available to assist
people in classifying classify their domestic rubbish.
Inspections will be carried out until the end of July to enforce the new regulations and focus on dumping and the transport of mixed refuse.
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