Beijing: China's largest plastic bag manufacturer has shut down its plant after the government unveiled a national environmental drive limiting the use of plastic bags from June this year.

Just a week after the government action, the factory, in Henan province stopped production in the middle of January, leaving the fate of its 20,000 employees hanging in the balance, local government sources said.

All the machineries in the factory owned by Guangzhou-based Nanqiang Plastic Industrial Limited with the capacity of 250,000 tons of plastic bags, would be sold, official Xinhua news agency quoted Liu Henglie, director of the commerce bureau of Suiping County where the plant is located, as saying.

A management official said, they closed the factory because of the environment drive against use of plastic bags. "Over 90 per cent of our products are on the limit list", the official was quoted as saying by a local business newspaper, Henan Business Daily.

The government has clamped a ban on production, sale and use of ultra-thin bags (defined as less than 0.025 mm thickness) with effect from June 1. As part of a concerted drive, supermarkets and shops are also banned from giving free plastic bags to customers.
Source : PTI