BEIJING

As many as 100 billion plastic shopping bags have been kept out of landfills in China since authorities ordered supermarkets to stop giving them out for free, a packaging industry group official said. Dong Jinshi, who had campaigned for the June 2008 nationwide ban on the distribution of free plastic bags, said the order had stopped an estimated 36.5 billion of them ending up in China's landfills each year. "It's possible that as many as 100 billion plastic shopping bags were kept out since the introduction of the law," Dong, vice-chairman of the International Food Packaging Association in Beijing,

For a number of years now, the Chinese print industry has looked forward to the KBA road show. This year’s nine-day tour under the banner “KBA: Pioneer of Green Innovation” stopped off in Beijing, Yinchuan, Jinan, Xiamen and Dongguan.

ROSEMOUNT, Ill.—Results from the 2010 IDEAlliance+IPA Ink Optimization RoundUP were released June 9 during the 45th annual Technical Conference. The 2010 Ink Optimization RoundUP study compared leading ink optimization software systems in terms of total ink reduction, color change, stability on press, file integrity, and the individual features of each solution.

Let the games begin! Thank God for the summer Olympics. For at least a two-week period, the news in our country was dominated by something other than another marathon contest that is taking place, not in Beijing, China, but in the good old U.S. of A. The other marathon, of course, is the run for the Oval Office, which seems as though it has been going on since Pheidippides ran the first marathon in 490 B.C. The printing industry’s version of the Olympics, drupa, took place during the Spring trade show season. Also held every four years, it dominated our news in much

What’s up with China? It’s been in the news a lot this year, and believe it or not, it wants to be. Next year, Beijing will host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, which will put Beijing and China on the world stage. The problem for Chinese officials is that the majority of the news surrounding the country is negative in nature. Some of the more visible problems include: • In March, a number of companies recalled pet food products that used Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine. These products were associated with a large number of illnesses and deaths of dogs and cats. • In

SHANGHAI, China—Labelexpo Asia, the largest label industry exhibition in this region, will take place from November 28-30, 2007 in Shanghai. Exhibitor space has expanded significantly on the 2005 event, with more than 75 percent of the exhibition sold. Building on the success of Labelexpo Asia 2005, the show will feature a large presence of local Chinese machinery and materials’ manufacturers as well as many leading international suppliers who will be launching and unveiling their latest products on this important stage. Labelexpo Asia 2007 is expected to welcome more than 12,000 visitors and 350 exhibitors to the Shanghai New International Exhibition Centre. Visitors will see