In recent years, ordering takeaway has become a daily habit for many people. While the explosive development of the takeaway industry provides convenience for everyone, a large amount of takeaway waste also has a non-negligible impact on the environment.
The Measures for the Administration of the Use and Reporting of Disposable Plastic Products by Operators in the Commercial Sector have recently been implemented, requiring takeaway platforms and takeaway enterprises to regularly report on the use and recycling of disposable plastic products. What is the current status of plastic waste generated by ordering takeaway, and is it convenient to recycle? The reporter of the main station recently paid a visit ↓
Large quantity, difficult to clean...
At noon, the reporter observed on the streets of Beijing that many roadside garbage cans had takeaway garbage, and some also carried leftovers, which added a lot of work burden to sanitation workers.
- Garbage cans in office buildings are also the hardest hit area for takeaway waste: after lunch, all kinds of takeaway waste are concentrated. Most of the discarded takeaway waste is plastic lunch boxes.
- In the recyclable trash cans of garbage sorting stations in residential areas, there is actually no takeaway garbage. After residents dump takeaway leftovers into kitchen waste, various packages are thrown into other waste.
A community garbage classification instructor told reporters that in addition to paper packaging, other plastic waste in takeaway garbage is not cared for, the main reason is dirty. "There is oil in the lunch box, it drips everywhere, and the general acquisition station owner does not want it."
According to a recycling officer at a household waste collection point, they only buy a white transparent polypropylene lunch box with the PP logo. The purchase price of one kilogram is 1.8 yuan, "not only requires clean up, but also at least three or five kilograms at a time, that is, a hundred and ten to weigh." ”
And it is not easy to distinguish and clean up such lunch boxes among all kinds of takeaway waste. The reporter found that most of the plastic waste generated by takeaway was transferred to other garbage and eventually incinerated.
Plastic tableware should be reduced, and takeaway should avoid excessive packaging
Plastic lunch boxes are difficult to replace
At present, plastic alternative materials are mainly paper materials and degradable plastics. The reporter found that some Western food and cold food use more paper lunch boxes, and most Chinese catering companies still use traditional plastic lunch boxes.
In addition, degradable disposable straws have gradually become popular, but degradable lunch boxes are rare. According to experts, degradable plastics have problems such as poor heat resistance and mechanical properties, insufficient production capacity, and high sales prices, resulting in low acceptance of the lunch box market. The takeaway industry reduces plastic from the source, first of all, to reduce some unnecessary disposable plastic consumption.
Over-packaged takeaways
The reporter observed that many chain catering merchants use beautifully printed non-woven bags for takeaway packaging bags. Most of these heavy packaging, which were originally reusable, were discarded directly after a meal.
Experts said that non-woven fabrics also contain plastic components. To eliminate excessive packaging, it is more necessary for regulatory authorities and takeaway platforms to form a joint force. "If the regulatory authorities stipulate that the packaging cannot exceed two or three layers; Takeaway platform enterprises can formulate platform rules to encourage merchants on the platform to reduce the use of single-use plastic packaging. ”
As of December 2022, mainland takeaway users have increased to 520 million.
The report shows that the order volume of mainstream Internet takeaway platforms in mainland China increased from 1.7 billion orders in 2015 to 17.12 billion orders in 2020, and the consumption (waste) of plastics increased from 57,000 tons in 2015 to 574,000 tons in 2020, an increase of ten times in five years. There are no official statistics on how much takeaway plastic waste is recycled each year.
On June 20, the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly formulated the Administrative Measures for the Use and Reporting of Disposable Plastic Products by Operators in the Commercial Sector, which was officially implemented. Requirements ↓
- When catering operators provide packaging or takeaway services, they should reasonably choose alternative products or compliant disposable plastic products;
- Units starting commodity retail establishments, e-commerce platform (including take-out platforms) enterprises and take-out enterprises shall report on the use and recycling of disposable plastic products every six months.
"Plastic reduction" also needs to "pick up plastic"
Experts said that the best way to effectively control the problem of plastic pollution from takeaway waste is to recycle and reuse.
- At the beginning of this year, Shenzhen, Guangdong launched a pilot project for the sorting and recycling of take-out packaging waste in commercial office buildings.
In the pilot office building, a special trash can for "takeaway packaging waste" was added – after employees dumped takeaway food scraps into the kitchen waste bin, the takeaway packaging was collected separately and sent for recycling. At present, it has covered 86 commercial office buildings in Shenzhen, and nearly 1,000 kilograms of takeaway lunch boxes are recycled every day.
- In July 2020, Xiamen, Fujian Province revised the Guidance Catalogue of Low Value-added Recyclables for Domestic Waste in Xiamen, stipulating that takeaway lunch boxes are listed as low-value recyclables and are no longer regarded as other waste.
In the pilot community, plastic lunch boxes, cutlery and plastic bags from residents' takeaway will be centrally recycled and transported to the country's first low-value recyclables sorting center in Xiamen's Haicang District. No manual sorting is required, all enter the intelligent sorting platform. Since the sorting center officially opened production in April this year, 50 tons of low-value recyclables have been sorted every day.
- In May this year, a takeaway platform released the "Green Packaging Solution for Catering Takeaway", providing recyclable, degradable or reusable solutions for takeaway packaging for six categories such as cake, coffee and light food.
Experts said that the plan is only a recommended guidance plan, and relevant departments should coordinate different platforms to make synchronous efforts to urge platform takeaway merchants to accelerate the upgrade of green packaging.
At the same time, to reduce takeaway plastic pollution, consumer participation is particularly important. Lunch box garbage is not discarded arbitrarily during outings, garbage sorting is conscious, dine-in as much as possible during meals, or "no tableware required" will all contribute to the protection of the environment.
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Source|CCTV News WeChat public account