<P> China will either shut down or curtail operations at dozens of steel plants from November 2017, over the next five months under an aggressive action plan to reduce winter pollution in Beijing and its surrounding areas . </P> <P> The immense growth of the People's Republic of China since the 1980s has resulted in increased soil pollution . The State Environmental Protection Administration believes it to be a threat to the environment, food safety and sustainable agriculture . 38,610 square miles (100,000 km) of China's cultivated land have been polluted, with contaminated water being used to irrigate a further 31.5 million miles (21,670 km .) and another 2 million miles (1,300 km) have been covered or destroyed by solid waste . The affected area accounts for one - tenth of China's cultivatable land . An estimated 6 million tonnes of grain are contaminated by heavy metals every year, causing direct losses of 29 billion yuan (US $2.57 billion). Heavy metals (including mercury, lead, cadmium, copper, nickel, chromium, and zinc) in the contaminated soil have adverse health effects in human metabolism . Ingestion, contact through skin, diet through the soil - food chain, respiratory intake, and oral intake can deliver the toxic substances to human beings . </P> <P> As China's waste production increases, insufficient efforts to develop capable recycling systems have been attributed to a lack of environmental awareness . In 2012, the waste generation in China was 300 million tons (229.4 kg / cap / yr). </P> <P> A ban came into effect on 1 June 2008 that prohibited all supermarkets, department stores and shops throughout China from giving out free plastic bags, therefore encouraging people to use cloth bags as during the ancient times Stores must clearly mark the price of plastic shopping bags and are banned from adding that price onto the price of products . The production, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bags - those less than 0.025 millimeters (0.00098 in) thick - are also banned . The State Council called for "a return to cloth bags and shopping baskets ." This ban, however, does not affect the widespread use of paper shopping bags at clothing stores or the use of plastic bags at restaurants for takeout food . A survey by the International Food Packaging Association found that in the year after the ban was implemented, 10 percent fewer plastic bags found their way into the garbage . </P>

When did pollution become a major problem in china