Locals act against plastic waste in Tibet

In a Tibet Daily report in 2017, Namgyal Lhatso, a former member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, said white pollution was "haunting" China's vast rural areas.

She said even though almost a decade had passed since Tibet adopted the plastics ban, some small businesses were still trying to evade inspections, which exacerbated pollution. To improve recycling rates, she called for greater efforts to raise awareness of plastic pollution and said the topic should be included in Tibet's compulsory education curriculum.

Adding white pollution to the school curriculum and stepping up recycling would be complex and time-consuming, but before that happens the association plans to introduce incentives for rural buyers to employ reusable cloth bags rather than plastics.

Cai said he is planning to roll out a program in Lhasa's markets that will allow shoppers to trade 20 plastic bags for a cloth bag, and in the meantime he will lecture about the harm plastics do to farmland and livestock.

The production of cloth bags, which cost about 1 yuan (14 cents) each to make, is likely to be financed by companies who want to use them as advertising space.

"It is hoped that rural people will bring the cloth bags with them the next time they shop at farmers' markets," Cai said.