Do you really understand the current situation of plastic waste management policy in China?

After the push of the previous post

The diversified plastic policies of various countries have enabled us to have a deeper understanding of plastic governance.

The whole life cycle of plastics also makes us reflect that we can not only think about the solution from the end consumption to control plastic pollution.

Many friends also hope to have a deeper understanding of the current situation of China's plastic policy.

China, as a huge population country and consumer country

Facing the double pressure of domestic and international calls for plastic treatment

How should the government deal with this pressure and construct the plastic management policy system of our country?

At 14.00 on June 10, Mr. Xie Xinyuan, Director of Policy Research of Zero waste Alliance, conducted a lecture on "Overview and Analysis of Plastics related policies in China" and had an in-depth discussion with you on China's plastics related policies.

Disposable plastic waste problem

How serious is the problem of plastic waste in China

In 2017, China produced 75.15 million tons of plastic products, of which plastic bags and other plastic packaging films reached more than 14 million tons. In order to produce these plastics, our country needs to import a lot of crude oil and synthetic resin. At present, the degree of external dependence of China's imported crude oil is 72.3%, and the imported synthetic resin consumes US $33.6 billion of foreign capital.

At the same time, plastic packaging film products are light, large, oil pollution is difficult to clean, almost no one recycles, which is equivalent to consuming a lot of foreign capital to produce a lot of garbage.

Framework of policies and regulations related to plastic waste

In 2017, the central government first issued the implementation Plan of the Municipal solid waste Classification system. In April of the following year, the city issued an implementation plan and then refined it to the local level. After several rounds of revision and soliciting opinions, the central government issued a new "solid waste Law" at the end of April this year. In the chart, the thick black line represents the relationship between the upper method and the lower method, and the black dotted line represents the guiding significance. For example, the solid waste law is the superior law of the local waste classification regulations, and the implementation plan of the domestic waste classification system has a strong guiding significance for the new "solid waste Law".

In addition, in January this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Environment issued a new plastic restriction order. The new "plastic restriction order" belongs to the departmental policy, which is somewhat similar to the status of the implementation plan of the domestic waste classification system, and it is expected that departmental regulations will be issued after the formal introduction.

The new plastic restriction order has the following highlights:

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment

The coverage is relatively complete

Production and sales are prohibited: ultra-thin plastic bags, ultra-thin polyethylene agricultural mulch, disposable foaming tableware, disposable plastic cotton swabs, daily chemical products containing plastic beads

There is a prohibition and restriction schedule for different kinds of disposable plastics.

Actively promote recyclable and foldable express packaging and establish a recycling system for recyclable logistics and distribution equipment

Explore the establishment of information disclosure system for the production and sale of plastic raw materials and finished products

Carry out life cycle environmental risk research assessment and health risk assessment

Supervision and assessment: joint special actions, environmental inspectors, enhanced assessment and accountability

But there are also some shortcomings:

Lack of quantitative indicators for work objectives

The alternative is mainly biodegradable, but there is no mention of how to recover and dispose of degradable plastics.

Do not pay enough attention to reuse schemes

Insufficient use of economic leverage

Policies and regulations at different stages of the plastic life cycle

According to the principle of priority of domestic waste management, Mr. Xie summarized the different policies of each specific link for us.

1. Source reduction and extension of producer responsibility

At present, the scope of the extended producer responsibility system at the national level is too narrow, and there is no systematic EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) for disposable plastic waste. Disposable plastic products are "cheap" because the external costs of the environment are transferred to society (the cost of waste disposal), and even to the ecosystem (becoming out of control garbage, leading to the death of wild animals, etc.). Because disposable plastic products can be transferred to costs, durable goods reuse programs are relatively expensive, and few people innovate in this area. At present, localities and industries have been trying to make positive changes to this link, but they are limited to the use of uniform materials, and there is still a lack of internalization of environmental costs.

two。 Circulation field

In fact, the new plastic restriction order mainly belongs to the field of circulation, including the restriction and prohibition of non-degradable plastic bags, disposable plastic tableware, hotel disposable products and express plastic packaging. In addition, the promotion of degradable plastics is also mentioned in the new solid waste Law. But at present, biodegradable materials still face many problems.

Research on biodegradability of Zero waste Alliance:

3. Classification and recycling

At present, the work of garbage classification in China is gradually improving, and the system of charging by quantity is being established. Individual cities have taken the lead in subsidizing low-value recyclables or integrating recycling facilities into unified planning, but they have not yet become mainstream. The principle of compulsory recycling is emphasized in the new solid waste Law, but there are no detailed rules.

In the process of recycling, waste plastic processing industry norms (including environmental protection requirements) already exist, and the standard system of recycled materials is being formed. Compared with institutional programmes, technology has received more attention, such as the "Internet +" Green Ecology three-year Action implementation Plan.

4. Ban the import of foreign garbage and improve the relevant supervision and inspection of environmental protection

Since the Circular on banning the entry of foreign garbage to promote the reform of the solid waste import management system came into effect on January 1, 2018, the import of waste plastics has basically stopped.

5. Incineration and recycling of plastic waste

Mixed waste incineration and plastic waste recycling are two paths for garbage terminal management. For example, after plastic products are discarded, they either enter the mixed waste disposal path or enter the recycling path.

However, after the reform and opening up, China has almost completely marketed the field of resource recovery, while ignoring the positive role of the industry in solving the garbage problem. By comparison, the mixed waste removal-incineration path enjoys preferential policies such as planning, land use protection, incineration power generation subsidy, tax rebate and so on, while recycling and reuse enterprises have little support from these policies. This is an important reason why low-value recyclables enter the mixed waste incineration path rather than recycling path.

Principles to be followed in plastic waste management policy

At the end of the training, Mr. Xie made suggestions on the current plastic waste management policy:

1. Promote the extension of corporate res