In 2022, the consumption of disposable plastic products will be significantly reduced, and alternative products will be promoted;
In 2025, a management system for the production, circulation, consumption, recycling and disposal of plastic products will be basically established, a multidisciplinary system will be basically formed, and plastic pollution will be effectively controlled.
Recently, the Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau launched a three-month special plastic bag rectification campaign focusing on retail places such as farmers' markets, convenience stores and supermarkets, and investigated and dealt with illegal activities such as selling and using ultra-thin plastic bags and providing plastic shopping bags free of charge.
Coincidentally. Hainan Province plans to organize key industries and localities to take the lead in carrying out the pilot work of "plastic ban" in eight months from April 1 day, laying a good foundation for the formal and comprehensive "plastic ban" in the province in February 1 day.
2020 will be the "line of life and death" for many plastic products. By the end of 2020, China will prohibit the production and sale of disposable foamed plastic tableware and disposable plastic cotton swabs, and prohibit the production of daily chemical products containing plastic beads.
In view of the current "white pollution" caused by plastic products, this year, a package of new policies was introduced at the national and local levels. First, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions), which was hailed as an upgraded version of the "Plastic Restriction Order" in 2008 and clearly put forward a timetable for further strengthening the control of plastic pollution; Subsequently, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the Catalogue of Plastic Products whose Production, Sale and Use are Prohibited or Restricted (Draft for Comment) (hereinafter referred to as the Catalogue of Prohibited Plastics); The Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste (hereinafter referred to as the Law on Solid Waste), which will come into effect on September 1, stipulates that those who fail to ban or restrict the use of disposable plastic products such as non-degradable plastic bags in accordance with relevant state regulations will be fined between RMB 1 10,000 and RMB110,000.
From "limiting plastics" to strengthening "prohibition" and refining legal responsibilities, China's plastic pollution control is being vigorously and orderly promoted.
Pay attention to the whole life cycle management of plastic products
China has become the largest producer and consumer of plastics in the world. With the changes of production and lifestyle such as e-commerce, express delivery and take-away, and the development of new formats, the consumption of plastic products, especially disposable plastic products, continues to rise.
Due to the low profit of recycling most of the waste plastics, 99% of the waste plastics delivered by express delivery will be mixed with domestic garbage and eventually burned or buried. The Research Report on the Generation Characteristics and Management Status of Express Packaging Waste in China pointed out that in 20 18 years, the express delivery industry in China consumed 85 1800 tons of plastic packaging materials. Only 6.5438+0.77 million tons of plastic packaging waste were recovered.
Jiang Nanqing, Secretary-General of Plastic Recycling Branch of China Synthetic Resin Supply and Marketing Association, said that the biggest problem of plastic packaging is to throw it away after use, not to recycle it as a resource product, and its life cycle is very short. Compared with before, one of the highlights of the Opinions is to focus on the construction of the overall plastic recycling industry chain, put forward the construction and steps of the plastic recycling management system, and make efforts from different levels such as standardizing enterprise production and improving the garbage recycling system. Supporting supervision, policies and scientific research and development also have a more comprehensive system planning.
Meng Wei, spokesperson of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that compared with the previous policies on plastic pollution control, the Opinions were systematic, coordinated and orderly. Different from the previous policies that only regulated individual links and fields, the policies and measures proposed in the Opinions basically covered the whole process and links of production, circulation, use, recycling and disposal of plastic products, which reflected the systematicness and integrity of life cycle management and was conducive to establishing a long-term mechanism to control plastic pollution.
"The upgraded version of the Plastic Restriction Order is mainly aimed at the environmental hazards caused by the use of disposable plastic products, and promotes the easy recycling, recycling and reduction of plastic products." Professor Du Huanzheng, president of the Plastic Recycling Branch of China Synthetic Resin Supply and Marketing Association and director of the Institute of Circular Economy of Tongji University, said in an interview with the Science and Technology Daily reporter that different from the past, the Opinions also clarified the time node for completing the task: starting from this year, in some regions and fields, it is the first to ban and restrict the production, sale and use of some plastic products; By 2022, the consumption of disposable plastic products will be significantly reduced, alternative products will be promoted, and the proportion of plastic waste resources will be greatly improved; By 2025, a management system for the production, circulation, consumption, recycling and disposal of plastic products will be basically established, a diversified governance system will be basically formed, the level of development and application of alternative products will be further improved, the amount of plastic waste landfill in key cities will be greatly reduced, and plastic pollution will be effectively controlled.
Du Huanzheng said that according to the current situation of solid waste treatment in China, the Solid Waste Law stipulates specific legal responsibilities and fines for violations of the "ban" on disposable plastic products such as non-degradable plastic bags. This is the norm of "forbidden" behavior, which refines legal responsibility, makes punishment legal and makes law enforcement more operable.
Pay equal attention to source reduction, end classification and recycling.
The Opinions put forward the specific scope and timetable for prohibiting and restricting the use of non-degradable plastic bags, disposable plastic tableware, disposable plastic products and express plastic packaging in hotels. For example, it is forbidden to produce and sell ultra-thin plastic shopping bags with a thickness of less than 0.025mm and polyethylene agricultural mulching films with a thickness of less than 0.01mm..
Subsequently, the Catalogue of Prohibited Plastics put forward more detailed regulations on varieties and scope of use, and required to dynamically adjust the detailed standards of categories involved in the Catalogue according to the implementation situation.
Dr. Mao Da, policy consultant of Zero Waste Alliance, told the Science and Technology Daily reporter that it is not enough to solve plastic pollution by sorting and recycling, and measures must be taken to reduce pollution at the source. The Opinions explicitly prohibit and restrict some plastic products, and block the production of these products from the source, which is conducive to reducing the pressure of classification, recycling and disposal of plastic waste at the end.
Mao Da pointed out that the plastic products listed in the plastic ban catalogue are mainly plastic products with large domestic use, serious pollution and previous experience in reducing consumption, such as the "six small pieces" restricted to hotels in Shanghai from 2065438+July 2009.
In addition, when formulating the catalogue of plastic ban, it also refers to the relevant international regulations on plastic ban. On May 20 19, the EU version of the "Plastic Prohibition Order" came into effect, stipulating disposable plastic products with substitutes, including plastic straws, disposable tableware and cotton swabs. , will be banned before 202 1, and member States should recycle 90% of beverage bottles before 2029. Plastic straws, disposable tableware and cotton swabs are also included in the plastic ban list.
Meng Wei said that the formation of green production and lifestyle cannot be achieved overnight. According to the Opinions, China adheres to the principle of "emphasizing key points, promoting in an orderly manner, leading by innovation, supporting by science and technology, participating in diversity and controlling by society", and strengthens the control of plastic pollution according to the idea of "banning a batch, recycling a batch and standardizing a batch".
The degradable plastics industry still faces many bottlenecks.
The "Opinions" clearly pointed out that the use of degradable shopping bags and degradable packaging films (bags) should be promoted, and alternative products such as degradable plastic bags should be promoted in the field of food and beverage take-away; Strengthen the research and development of degradable alternative materials and products; Strengthen the transformation of key core technologies and achievements of recyclable degradable materials, and carry out technical verification and product selection of degradable plastic films.
Degradable plastics are also a hot topic of concern to delegates and members of the two sessions this year. Lan Minbo, member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Chemistry, pointed out that there is an urgent need to develop a large number of biodegradable new materials and products after the publication of the Opinions, and suggested improving the relevant biodegradable evaluation mechanism and product standards. At the same time, combined with the Catalogue of Prohibited Plastics, we will increase scientific research support and formulate standards for plastics with traceable measurement.
Zheng Yueming, deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of Lianhong New Materials Technology Co., Ltd., said that at this stage, China's biodegradable materials industry still faces many bottlenecks, mainly because the production technology is not mature enough to form large-scale production. Compared with traditional plastics, the cost is higher, which limits its popularization and application.
Du Huanzheng pointed out that there are many kinds of degradable plastics on the market at present, and it is necessary to establish relevant evaluation standards and certification systems to standardize the labeling of degradable plastics. In terms of popularization and application, it is necessary to establish a new system of production, sales, use and recycling of degradable plastics from the aspects of product application conditions and production capacity to meet the requirements stipulated in the Opinions.
Mao Da said that at present, the use of ordinary plastic bags has not been completely banned. If some residents use degradable bags and others don't, it is difficult to distinguish between degradable plastic bags and non-degradable plastic bags when they enter the composting yard, and the degradation effect cannot be achieved.
To this end, Mao Da suggested that the scope of use and application level of degradable plastics should be clearly defined. For example, degradable plastics are more suitable for packaging materials in contact with food and plastic bags for kitchen waste. In special occasions where traditional plastic waste recycling is difficult to mix, degradable plastics can also be given priority, such as tea bags, coffee capsules and fast food boxes provided in large-scale activities. For e-commerce, express delivery and other industries, it is difficult to use degradable materials on a large scale. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the reuse of packaging products to reduce the use intensity of disposable plastics.
"Eliminating white pollution and reducing disposable plastics, plastic recycling and the use of degradable plastics should go hand in hand." Du Huan is saying.