Campaign poster of the city of Datong, Shanxi province [Photo/dtnews.cn]

An environmental protection campaign running Aug 5 to Nov 1 under the title, "Travelling Green in China", has been doing well in the city of Datong, Shanxi province, where they have been trying to get people to use their own items for daily necessities and avoid the disposable items we see in hotels.

The campaign is urging people to develop thriftier habits and to save resources, as part of a national move organized by governmental online news portals across all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, which started with the State Council's Internet Information Office.

A Datong information website -- dtnews.cn -- is the sponsor of the effort, in cooperation with local travel agencies and hotels, and is spreading the idea of saving resources through campaigns and special columns online. There are also off-line activities to engage the public.

Disposable hotel items, most of which are thrown away after one use. [Photo/dtnews.cn]

The focus is on disposable articles, such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, and combs, to name a few, which are consumed at an alarmingly large rate all over the nation, with most of them being thrown away after one use, resulting in a huge volume of wasted resources and ecological and environmental damage. To deal with the problem, the State Information Office came out with the event idea and took advantage of the rapid speed of information sharing via the Internet.