Tibet will try to extend the anti-white pollution campaign to all county seats and major tourists sites by the end of 2010, a local official said Tuesday.

Zhang Yongze, director of Tibet's environmental protection bureau, told Xinhua that the agency will put priority this year on the ban of production, sales and use of disposable plastic bags and foam dinnerware in 73 county seats and major tourist sites.

Zhang called the task "daunting" as most supermarkets, department stores, food markets and restaurants in the county seats still use plastic bags and foam dinnerware.

The campaign was launched in Lhasa in 2004 and later extended to capitals of major prefectures amid efforts to protect the fragile environment on the world's highest plateau.

The local authorities in Lhasa seized more than 260 tonnes of disposable plastic bags and foam dinnerware in the crackdown on white pollution last year.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2010)