Control the source, re-recycle, grasp the end

Source: People's Daily - People's Daily

Core reading

As an important basic material, plastics are widely used in all aspects of economic and social production and life, bringing many conveniences while also bringing challenges to environmental governance.

At present, China has achieved initial results in the treatment of plastic pollution. Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "14th Five-Year Plan" Plastic Pollution Control Action Plan, which further improved the whole chain governance system of plastic pollution, refined the reduction of the source of plastic use, plastic waste cleaning, recycling, recycling, scientific disposal and other aspects of deployment, and promoted the continuous deepening of plastic pollution control.

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "14th Five-Year Plan" Plastic Pollution Control Action Plan (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"). The "Plan" proposes that by 2025, the operation of the plastic pollution control mechanism will be more effective, the responsibilities of localities, departments and enterprises will be effectively implemented, and the whole chain of plastic products production, circulation, consumption, recycling and disposal will be more effective. What changes will the "Plan" bring to residents' daily consumption and enterprise production services?

Reduction at the source: Significantly reduce the irrational use of disposable plastic products

Wang Yonggang, secretary general of the Recycled Plastics Branch of the China Material Recycling Association, introduced that China has become a big country in the production, product production and consumption of plastic raw materials. In 2020, China's plastic output will be more than 100 million tons, and the output of plastic products above designated size will exceed 76 million tons.

Plastic itself is not a pollutant, but plastic waste leaks into the natural environment such as soil and water bodies and is difficult to degrade, which will bring environmental hazards such as visual pollution, soil damage, and microplastics. According to a 2018 report by the United Nations Environment Programme, only 9% of the 9 billion tons of plastic products produced worldwide are recycled, about 12% are incinerated, and the remaining 79% end up in landfills or into the natural environment.

"How to deal with the increasingly serious plastic waste leaking into the environment has become a serious issue that countries must face." Wang Xuejun, a professor at Peking University's School of Urban and Environmental Sciences, said.

Since the issuance of the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution", the control of plastic pollution has achieved initial results, but it also faces many difficulties and challenges, and it is necessary to further improve policies and promote the system.

According to the relevant responsible comrades of the National Development and Reform Commission, the "Plan" released this time further improves the whole chain governance system of plastic pollution, further refines the source reduction of plastic use, the deployment of plastic waste cleaning, recycling, recycling, scientific disposal, etc., further tightens the compaction of departmental and local responsibilities, and promotes plastic pollution control to achieve greater results in the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.

In terms of source reduction, the "Plan" proposes to prohibit the production of ultra-thin plastic shopping bags with a thickness of less than 0.025 mm, polyethylene agricultural film with a thickness of less than 0.01 mm, and daily chemical products containing plastic microbeads that are harmful to the environment and human health. The irrational use of disposable plastic products in key areas such as commodity retail, e-commerce, takeaway, express delivery, and accommodation has been greatly reduced, and e-commerce express mail has basically realized no secondary packaging, and the scale of recyclable express packaging applications has reached 10 million.

"These disposable plastic products are widely used, low in value and difficult to collect, which has become a difficulty and pain point in plastic pollution control, and its production and use must be reduced from the source." Zhang Deyuan, an associate researcher at the Institute of Structural Reform of the Macroeconomic Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, said.

Recycling and disposal: At present, China recycles nearly 19 million tons of various types of plastics every year

In terms of recycling and disposal, the "Plan" requires that cities at the prefecture level and above basically establish a domestic garbage classification, collection, transportation and treatment system according to local conditions, and the efficiency of plastic waste collection and transfer has been greatly improved; the national urban domestic waste incineration treatment capacity has reached about 800,000 tons / day, and the amount of plastic waste directly landfilled has been greatly reduced; the recovery rate of agricultural film has reached 85%, and the national film residue has achieved zero growth.

"Another important part of the whole chain of plastic pollution control is to strengthen the recycling of waste plastics and turn 'garbage' into renewable resources." Zhang Deyuan introduced, according to statistics, at present, China recycles nearly 19 million tons of various types of plastics every year, while providing high-quality industrial raw materials, compared with the use of native resources, it can reduce about 45% of sewage discharge and 60%-70% of energy consumption.

The huge consumption of plastics brings a lot of plastic waste, but not all plastic waste will produce pollution problems, and the vast majority of plastic materials are renewable. Wang Yonggang introduced that vigorously developing the recycled plastics industry, building a scientific and accurate plastic waste management system, rationally controlling plastic waste, eliminating disposal pressure, and improving the proportion of resource utilization can not only effectively solve the problem of plastic pollution, but also have great significance for ensuring China's energy security and helping to achieve carbon peaks and carbon neutrality goals.

Wang Yonggang analyzed that to complete the main task of "accelerating the promotion of the standardized recycling and disposal of plastic waste" proposed in the "Plan", it is necessary to strengthen the standardized recycling and transportation of plastic waste, establish and improve the rural plastic waste collection and transportation system, increase the recycling of plastic waste, and improve the level of harmless disposal of plastic waste.

Clean-up and rectification: Require that the open-air plastic waste left over from the history of key waters, key scenic spots, and rural areas be basically cleared

Disposable plastic waste is small in size and light in weight, and if discarded at will, it is very easy to cause "white pollution" in rivers, lakes and seas, fields and scenic spots. In order to make up for the shortcomings of plastic waste collection and disposal, the "Plan" requires that the historical open-air plastic waste left over from key waters, key tourist attractions and rural areas be basically cleared in terms of garbage cleaning.

"To this end, the "Plan" has targeted the deployment of plastic waste cleaning and rectification tasks in rivers, lakes and seas, tourist scenic spots, and rural areas." The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission said. Carry out special cleaning of plastic waste within the management of rivers, lakes and reservoirs, establish a normalized cleaning mechanism, and strive to basically clear the open plastic waste in key waters; carry out special cleaning of plastic waste in bays, estuaries, shore beaches and other areas, promote coastal cities and counties to establish a long-term mechanism for cleaning up marine plastic waste, and maintain no obvious plastic waste in key coastal areas; carry out the normalization of domestic garbage cleaning in tourist scenic spots, strengthen the education and guidance of tourists, and stop the random discarding of plastic waste. Achieve zero open-air plastic waste in tourist attractions of A level A and above; carry out the cleaning and rectification of rural plastic waste, combined with the improvement of rural living environment, regularly clean up plastic waste in areas such as front and back of houses, rivers and ponds and ditches, and fields, and promote the basic clearance of open plastic waste left over from the history of villages.

"In order to further consolidate the responsibilities of all parties, the Plan clarifies the responsible departments for the 37 specific tasks deployed, and clarifies that local people's governments at all levels are responsible for the overall responsibility for plastic pollution control in their administrative areas. According to the relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the National Development and Reform Commission will continue to organize and carry out annual joint special actions for plastic pollution control, and include the relevant prominent problems found in the joint special action into the scope of central ecological environmental protection supervision, and further tighten the responsibilities of compaction departments and localities.

People's Daily (October 27, 2021, 17th edition)