Buly lunch and a magazine at any Japanese convenience store,and you’re likely to get your drnk in one plastic bag,hot lunch box in another,and your magazine in yet a third.
The mega-packaging keeps your food hot,your drink cool and your newspaper clean,but environmentalists say it also creates a mountain of plastic waste that pollutes the air and the oceans and contributes to global warning.
The world uses between 500 billion to 1 trillion(万亿)plastic bags a year.Wrapping-happy Japan is a major player,consuming about 30 billion.
Those figures don’t include the tons of extra wrappings―individual plastic covers for shirts from the cleaners,tiny packages for single cookies―used in Japan,experts say,suggesting the country is among the world’s main consumers of plastic sheets.
Facing criticism from environmentalists,Japan is now trying to change its law to let the government issue warnings to businessmen that don’t do enough in reducing,reusing and recycling plastic bags.
The changed law has got the support from the Parliament(会议),but for a country famous for its nice wrapping,cutting back will be a difficult task.
“Of course,it’s good to cut down on plastic bag use,but we can’t hand customers a hot lunch box or cold ice-cream without a bag.That would be unclean and very rude,”said a Japanese retailer. Still, wrapping habits in Japan are sometimes almost excessive(过度的).
The way of wrapping reflects Japan’s traditional attitude toward gift-giving,which pays more attention to presentation than to contents.The layering of wrapping also has important social meaning―more wrapping means more politeness.
Plastic bags waste valuable oil resources and the energy it takes to produce them contributes to global warming.Some can release harmful and poisonous things when burned,and many end up in the sea and can kill some marine animals that mistake them for food.
Moreover,experts say the changed law which comes into effect in 2007―with only a system of warnings and no actual legal liabilities(义务)—doesn’t go far enough.
“Stores must be forced to charge for bags.That’s the only way Japanese consumers can be persuaded to cut down on the plastic bags they use,”one expert says.
Germany,for example,saw plastic bag use fall by 70 percent after the government introduced a small tax in 2002.similar strategies have been successfully employed in Ireland,South Africa,Australia,Shanghai,and other places.

　　在日本任何一家便利店里买一份午餐和一本杂志，很可能您的饮料会被装入一个塑料袋，热便当盒会被装入另一个塑料袋，而您的杂志会被装入第三个塑料袋。
　　这种多重包装能让你的午餐保温、饮料清凉、杂志洁净，但环保主义者们说，它也造成了堆积如山的塑料垃圾，既污染了空气和海洋，也加重了全球变暖。
　　全球每年使用5000亿至10000亿只塑料袋。对包装乐此不疲的日本是重要的使用国，每年消耗约300亿只塑料袋，这还不包括难以计数的过剩包装——洗衣房给每件衬衫套上的塑料袋、每块曲奇套着的小袋子——专家指出，日本是世界上塑料膜的最主要消耗国之一。
　　面对环保主义者们的批评，日本现在试图修订法律，以使政府有权向在塑料袋的减少使用、重复使用、循环利用方面行动不力的商人们发出警告。
　　修订法律得到了日本国会的支持，但对于一个以包装精美著称的国家而言，削减塑料袋的使用将任重道远。
　　“当然，减少使用塑料袋很好。但是，我们不能把滚烫的便当或者冰凉的冰淇淋不经包装就直接递给顾客，这既不卫生也十分粗鲁，”一位日本零售商说。更有甚者，日本的包装习惯有时几乎是过分的。
　　日本的包装方式反映了其对待礼品赠送的传统观念，即较之礼品本身而言，更看重外观。包装的层数也具有重要的社交含义——层数越多，表示越客气。
　　塑料袋浪费了宝贵的石油资源，生产它所消耗的能源又加重了全球变暖。一些塑料袋焚烧时还会散发出有害和有毒的物质，许多塑料袋最终被弃入大海，一些海洋动物误将它们当成食物吞下，因而丧生。
　　不仅如此，专家们表示，日本修订后的法律虽然会于2007年实施，但做得还不够，因为它只确立了一套警告机制，却并未规定明确的法律责任。
　　“必须迫使商家改用布袋。只有这样，才能劝说日本的消费者减少塑料袋的使用量。”一位专家说。
　　例如，德国政府2002年（向塑料袋的使用）征收小额税负后，德国塑料袋的使用量锐减70%。类似的措施也在爱尔兰、南非、澳大利亚、上海和其他地方成功施用。