Starting September, China will impose hefty fines on those who disobey the nation's restrictions on disposable plastic products, including single-use plastic bags and straws.

In January, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, issued a new policy saying plastic bags will be banned in all of China's major cities by the end of 2020 and banned in all cities and towns in 2022.

Violators will be fined between 10,000 yuan (1,400 U.S. dollars) and 100,000 yuan (14,200 dollars), it said.

Other items such as plastic utensils from takeaway food outlets and plastic courier packages will also be phased out.

By end of 2020, the restaurant industry will be banned from using single-use straws. By 2025, towns and cities across China must reduce the consumption of single-use plastic items in the restaurant industry by 30 percent.

Major restaurant chains such as McDonald and Starbucks, have already replaced a majority of their plastic straws with paper ones.

The United Nations has identified single-use plastics as one of the world's biggest environmental challenges.

China also banned the import of all plastic waste and the use of medical plastic waste for the production of plastic.

The production and sale of plastic bags less than 0.025mm thick will be banned, as will plastic film less than 0.01mm thick for agricultural use.

China is already boosting recycling rates and is building dozens of "comprehensive resource utilization" bases to ensure that more products are reused.

(With input from Reuters)