text: China cities to ban disposable plastic containers . BEIJING 1996-08-31 Two Chinese cities are to ban the use of disposable plastic containers as part of efforts to fight pollution , the China Daily said on Saturday . Authorities in Wuhan , capital of the central province of Hubei , would punish those who sell or use disposable plastic containers from September 1 , the newspaper said . It did not elaborate . The city 's industrial and commercial departments would confiscate disposable plastic containers and police would prevent new ones from entering the city , it said . Wuhan consumes more than 200 million disposable plastic containers a year , the newspaper said . The boomtown of Guangzhou , capital of the southern province of Guangdong , would ban disposable plastic containers by the end of 1996 , it said . Guangzhou uses up 500,000 such containers each day , the newspaper said . It gave no further details .