Australia's Queensland and Western Australia have banned retailers from offering disposable ultra-thin plastic shopping bags since July 1. This means that only one of Australia's eight administrative districts has no plastic ban.
Under Queensland regulations, retailers who face off-the-shelf disposable ultra-thin plastic shopping bags less than 35 microns in thickness may face a fine of up to 6,300 Australian dollars (about 30,000 yuan).
On the same day, Australia's second-largest supermarket giant, Coles, and another retailer, IGA, began to implement a ban on plastics nationwide. Customers need to bring their own shopping bags or buy recyclable shopping bags.
Australia's largest supermarket chain, Woolworth, has stopped providing disposable plastic bags to customers in 1,000 stores nationwide since June 20.
The environmental protection organization 'Clean Australia' says that Australian retailers distribute an average of about 5 billion plastic bags a year, most of which are thrown away, throwing away about 7,150 disposable plastic bags per minute.
According to UNEP data, more than 8 million tons of plastic waste eventually enters the ocean each year, causing serious impacts on marine life, fisheries and tourism. The economic losses amount to 8 billion US dollars. The United Nations called for the phase-out of disposable plastic products by 2022.