Is the bag ban heading for a success?

The closure of China's largest plastic bag manufacturer Huaqiang has triggered off many cheerful blog entries, including All Roads Lead to China. Rich Brubaker is an optimist:

So, now that we have answered the question of whether or not the ban will have an impact, we now need to answer the question of how big the impact it will be.

While I think that because of its symplicity, the ban on plastic bags could have a powerful symbolic value for China's environmental aspirations, it could equally become a symbol for haplessness. I have been sceptical about its impact, and remain so.
Closing a factory for environmental reasons is nothing new. No polluting industry and different sections of the government have closed down factories. Unfortunately, all to often after the closure party was over, those factories restarted.
In this case restarting Huaqiang would be too much loss of face for the central government, but since demand is still there, others will gladly fill in the void.
The struggle against environmental degradation shows clearly the shortcomings of the administrative system: while there is a strong lobby for economic growth - at almost any cost - the governmental departments for environmental protection have very little leverage. O, they would get support now and them from the state council, but on the level of the execution that would offer too little.
Unless the industry would take the initiative itself - and All Roads Lead to China suggests that - nothing will change. For governments on a local level there is simply not enough pressure to give in to environmental demands.