This "Action Plan" is the most severe "plastic restriction order" proposed by Beijing. We will focus on six key industries, such as catering, take-away platform, wholesale and retail, e-commerce express delivery, accommodation and exhibition, and agricultural production, strengthen plastic reduction and strictly control the leakage of disposable plastic products to the natural environment.
Xue Tao, Executive Dean of E20 Research Institute, told 2 1 Century Business Herald that Beijing is likely to strictly control the leakage of plastic waste into the environment. "At present, Beijing's garbage incineration capacity is relatively strong. By strengthening the requirements of sanitation and financial investment, including river inspections, garbage from various environments in Beijing can still be sent to the garbage incineration plant for incineration, forming a closed loop, and finally strictly controlling the leakage of plastic garbage to the environment. "
How to strictly "reduce plastic"?
The Action Plan puts forward the focus of "one control, one reduction, two promotion and three batches". "One control" means strictly controlling the leakage of plastic waste to the environment. "One reduction" means trying to reduce the use of non-degradable disposable plastic products. "Two promotion" refers to actively promoting the supply of alternative technologies and products, and actively promoting the classified recovery and recycling of plastic waste.
Xue Tao said that "one control" is relatively easy to achieve, while "two promotion" lacks the support of business model. Because plastics are generally low-value recyclable products, their value can't be compared with household appliances at all. Judging from the current market situation, even the recyclability of household appliances has not been done well. In particular, some polluted plastics, such as lunch boxes, are mixed with wet garbage, which is very difficult to recycle.
"To put it bluntly, if this piece is completely handed over to the market, it is difficult to achieve classified recycling because it does not conform to commercial laws. If we want to promote classified recycling, we need subsidies, but after subsidies, the market is easily distorted, leading to problems with subsidies or without subsidies, which are easier to burn. " He said.
In addition, "three batches" means that it is forbidden to restrict the production, sale and use of a batch of disposable plastic products that are difficult to recycle and easy to leak; Circulate and promote a number of new packaging logistics vehicles, and establish and improve an efficient recycling system; Cooperate to control a number of key places and along the line where plastic pollution is prominent, and establish a plastic pollution control system.
At present, there are many landing measures in these work directions. Beijing proposed to focus on strengthening plastic reduction in six key industries, including catering, take-away platforms, wholesale and retail, e-commerce express delivery, accommodation and exhibition, and agricultural production.
Among them, for catering, the Action Plan proposes that by the end of 2020, non-degradable disposable plastic straws and coffee mixers will be banned in the catering industry in Beijing; Non-degradable plastic bags are prohibited for take-away service (including in-store food packaging) in built-up areas; It is forbidden to use non-degradable disposable plastic tableware in catering services in built-up areas and scenic spots.
For the take-away platform, the take-away platform is encouraged to set options such as "no tableware" during the ordering process, and rewards are given in the form of points. Encourage the take-away platform to increase publicity, establish a good image of catering enterprises that actively use degradable lunch boxes and reuse lunch boxes (utensils) to fulfill their ecological and environmental responsibilities, and guide consumers to choose through measures such as issuing "exclusive green coupons" through the platform.
Xue Tao pointed out that plastic bags are widely used for take-out, but at present, the basic pursuit is full burning. "Therefore, by banning non-degradable plastic bags, some risks of plastic leakage during the whole incineration process can be prevented, but the overall impact is not great. On the other hand, if recycling is difficult, many of them are manually sorted at present, and the cost is high. "
In addition to food and beverage takeout, farmers' markets and express delivery, it is also a key area to strictly control the use of plastics. Among them, by the end of 2025, the use of non-degradable plastic bags is prohibited in the markets in Beijing's built-up areas.
In addition, for the express delivery industry, by the end of 2020, the proportion of "slimming tape" packaging in Beijing Post Express and e-commerce distribution outlets will reach 90%, and the utilization rate of circulating transfer bags will reach over 95%. By the end of 2022, the use of non-degradable plastic packaging bags and woven bags will be prohibited in Beijing Post Express outlets, and the utilization rate of circulating transfer bags will reach 100%. By the end of 2025, the use of non-degradable plastic tape will be banned in Beijing post express outlets.
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It should be noted that Beijing has also made plastic reduction regulations specifically for agriculture, such as promoting the use of plastic films with a thickness of more than 0.0 14 mm in rural areas of the city, conducting experiments and demonstrations of biodegradable plastic films and detecting the residue of agricultural films, adopting the methods of exchanging old ones for new ones and handing them over to business entities and professional institutions for recycling, promoting the recycling of discarded agricultural plastic films, packaging wastes of pesticides and fertilizers, and properly handling discarded agricultural plastic wastes, such as nursery boards and water-saving irrigation materials.
In addition, by the end of 2022, a government-supported and market-led recycling and disposal system for waste agricultural films, pesticides and fertilizer packaging wastes will be basically established, and the recovery rate of agricultural films will reach over 90%.
However, Xue Tao pointed out that in these six areas, it is more difficult to "reduce plastics" in agriculture, because catering, take-away platforms, wholesale and retail, e-commerce express delivery, accommodation and exhibitions are all industries in the city, which are operated by regular companies and easy to control. Relatively speaking, the institutionalization of rural areas will be weaker, and farmers' ability to resist risks will be weaker. If "plastic reduction" is to increase costs, it will be difficult to push forward, and it may eventually need to increase subsidies to achieve it, but it will eventually bring financial burden.
In order to achieve "plastic reduction", the above action plan puts forward many options.
For example, catering enterprises are encouraged to replace disposable plastic lunch boxes with straw-covered lunch boxes that meet the performance and food safety requirements, use direct drinking cups instead of disposable plastic straws, and use reusable shopping bags instead of non-degradable plastic bags to reduce the use of disposable plastic products.
In addition, enterprises in e-commerce, express delivery and other fields are encouraged to innovate logistics modes and use foldable and recyclable packaging products and logistics distribution equipment to replace disposable plastic packaging materials. Encourage large supermarkets to innovate logistics mode and use foldable and recyclable packaging products and logistics distribution equipment to replace disposable plastic packaging.
Does this mean that related alternative fields, such as straw-covered lunch boxes and degradable plastic bags, will usher in the wind?
It is not easy at present. Xue Tao pointed out that the biggest problem of substitutes is the high cost. If it is to be fully realized, it is uncontrollable in performance and cost. Therefore, from a commercial point of view, a reasonable balance has not been found.
Judging from the "Action Plan" put forward by Beijing, the above measures are basically encouraging measures and have no mandatory effect, which also shows that the promotion of substitutes can only be carried out slowly.