Plastic products are everywhere, and some even say that the era we are living in now is the “Plastic Age”. However, while it brings us convenience, plastic also brings serious pollution situations.
For this reason, many cities have introduced “plastic restriction and ban” policies. It is worth noting that before the promulgation of the “plastic ban”, my country’s degradable plastics market was small and the demand was small, while the demand in Western Europe was large, resulting in my country’s degradable plastics being mainly exported to the Western European market. With the implementation of the “plastic ban” across the country, the situation of my country’s net export of degradable plastics is expected to change.

Image source: Internet. Let’s follow Xiaohan today to see what the “plastic ban orders” issued by the Chinese government from 2020 to 2025 are and how they are implemented.

Beijing releases ecological and environmental protection plan

Ban non-degradable plastic tape
On December 10, the official website of the Beijing Municipal People’s Government released a notice from the Beijing Municipal People’s Government on the issuance of the “Beijing Ecological Environmental Protection Plan during the 14th Five-Year Plan Period.”

The “Plan” proposes to implement plastic reduction actions in key industries, including establishing and improving a standard system for plastic pollution control, orderly banning the production and sales of some plastic products, and strictly controlling the leakage of plastic waste into the natural environment.

In addition, the “Plan” requires increasing efforts to reduce plastics in key industries such as catering, takeout platforms, wholesale and retail, e-commerce express delivery, accommodation and exhibitions, and agricultural production, and promote and expand the use of degradable plastic products. By 2025, the city’s express delivery outlets will ban the use of non-degradable plastic tape. Promote e-commerce and logistics companies to build recycling systems, and launch pilot projects for resource recycling of express packaging and take-out lunch boxes.

by 2025

Heilongjiang Province’s express delivery industry bans non-degradable plastic packaging
Recently, eight departments in Heilongjiang Province jointly issued the “Opinions on Accelerating the Green Transformation of Express Packaging in Heilongjiang Province” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”), which clarified that by 2025, Heilongjiang Province will completely ban non-degradable plastic packaging, and express packaging will basically achieve green transformation. .

The “Opinions” determine that the main goals of express packaging governance are: In 2021, the intensity of green express packaging governance will be further intensified, two special governance tasks for heavy metals and specific substances exceeding the standard packaging bags and excessive packaging will be carried out in depth, and the use of recyclable express boxes (boxes) will reach According to the specified quantity, the proportion of e-commerce express shipments not to be repackaged reaches 80%. By 2023, the regulatory system and governance system in the field of express packaging will be gradually improved, and the incentive and restraint mechanism for market entities in express packaging governance will be basically established; mandatory national standards for the harmlessness of express packaging materials will be implemented, and unified provincial standards and constraints will be established in an orderly manner A strong local standard system for express green packaging; standardized management of e-commerce and express delivery has been generally promoted, and the proportion of e-commerce express shipments that do not require secondary packaging has reached more than 85%. By 2025, the express packaging field will fully establish regulations, standards and policy systems that are compatible with green concepts, and form a long-term governance mechanism that runs through the entire chain of express packaging production, use, recycling and disposal; e-commerce express delivery will basically achieve the goal of no longer repeating Packaging, recyclable express packaging is applied on a large scale, and non-degradable plastic packaging is completely banned.

Puyang legislates plastic ban

Effective from May 1, 2022
In November 2021, Puyang City issued regulations on the management of non-degradable plastic products.

Among them, Article 3 prohibits and restricts non-degradable disposable plastic products in accordance with the principles of source control, comprehensive management, diverse participation, and orderly advancement. The regulations clarify that the development and reform authorities of the municipal and county (district) people’s governments are responsible for coordinating the work of banning and restricting non-degradable disposable plastic products with relevant departments. The ecological environment department of the Municipal People’s Government is responsible for the daily supervision and management of pollution prevention and control of non-degradable disposable plastic products.

Anyone who violates the regulations and produces or sells non-degradable disposable plastic products in the prohibited and restricted catalogs shall be ordered by the market supervision and management department of the people’s government at or above the county level to stop production and sales, confiscate the illegally produced and sold products, and impose penalties for illegally produced and sold products. A fine of less than the equivalent of the value of the goods shall be imposed; if there is any illegal income, the illegal income shall also be confiscated.

In addition, the regulations will come into effect on May 1, 2022.

From 2022

Two major airports in Sichuan ban plastic bags
The “Sichuan Airport Group Co., Ltd. Civil Aviation Industry Plastic Pollution Control Action Plan (2021-2025)” has been officially released recently.

The “Action Plan” proposes to correctly handle the relationship between green and service, green and safety in accordance with the basic principles of “highlighting key points and advancing in an orderly manner; diversified participation and multi-party governance; driven by innovation and supported by science and technology”, and regard plastic pollution control as a driving force for airports. The important tasks of the group’s green development are to adhere to reduction, standardization and recycling, effectively control regional plastic pollution in an orderly and effective manner, and ensure that the airport’s plastic ban and restriction work achieves effective results.

According to the main goal of the Action Plan, by the end of 2022, the consumption of disposable plastic products in trunk airport terminal areas will be reduced by 90%, and alternative products will be promoted. By the end of 2025, the consumption of disposable plastic products for freight packaging will have decreased by more than 60%. The consumption intensity of disposable non-degradable plastic products at the airports under the group’s jurisdiction has dropped significantly compared with 2020. The application level of alternative products has further improved. Plastic and other waste collection and transportation classification The coverage rate and harmless treatment rate are 100%, and the intelligent, professional and standardized treatment capabilities of solid waste have been significantly enhanced.

Effective from July 1, 2022

Shanxi legislation bans non-degradable disposable plastic products
In October 2021, the 30th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th Shanxi Provincial People’s Congress voted to adopt the “Shanxi Provincial Provisions on the Prohibition of Non-degradable Disposable Plastic Products”, a total of 25 articles, which will be implemented on July 1, 2022. The regulations clearly prohibit and restrict the implementation of directory management of non-degradable disposable plastic products. The development and reform department of the Provincial People’s Government shall work with relevant departments to formulate a list of prohibited and restricted items, which shall be reported to the Provincial People’s Government for approval and then announced to the public.

Henan Development and Reform Commission issued an important notice

Expand the scope of implementation of bans and restrictions on some plastic products
In September 2021, the Henan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Department of Ecology and Environment, Department of Industry and Information Technology, Department of Commerce, Department of Culture and Tourism, and Market Supervision Administration issued the “Notice on Expanding the Implementation Scope of the Ban and Limit Management of Some Plastic Products” stating that the ban and limit of some plastic products will be expanded. Management implementation scope.

Starting from January 1, 2022, shopping malls, supermarkets, pharmacies, bookstores and other places in urban built-up areas in cities at or above the county level across the province, as well as catering takeout services and various exhibition activities, are prohibited from providing non-degradable plastic bags, and catering dine-in services It is prohibited to provide disposable plastic tableware; tourist-star hotels and other places in the province are not allowed to proactively provide disposable plastic items. Related services can be provided by setting up self-service purchasing machines and providing refillable detergents. The notice also pointed out that it is necessary to cultivate and expand the degradable materials industry. Support key parks and enterprises in Puyang, Zhoukou and other places to increase investment in technological innovation, tackle key technologies for large-scale and continuous production such as polylactic acid (PLA), and improve the key technology integration of the entire industry chain for degradable materials. Encourage Luoyang, Pingdingshan, Luohe, Zhumadian, Nanyang and other places to build a number of degradable material product chain supply chain and capacity expansion projects to accelerate the improvement of the supply capacity of degradable products.

By the end of 2022

Zhejiang plans to ban non-biodegradable plastic packaging
In September 2021, eight departments including the Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission and the Zhejiang Provincial Postal Administration jointly drafted the “Zhejiang Provincial Work Plan for the Control of Excessive Packaging and Random Packaging of Express Mail (2021-2022, Draft for Comments)”.

The “Plan” proposes that by the end of 2022, the province will ban the use of non-degradable plastic packaging bags and disposable plastic woven bags, and the proportion of non-degradable plastic tapes will be reduced to 30%. On average, packaging supplies for each express delivery have been reduced by more than 10%, and the repackaging rate for e-commerce express shipments has exceeded 90%. More than 800,000 recyclable packaging boxes (bags) were purchased and used in the province, and the utilization rate of recyclable transfer bags was 100%. At the same time, express delivery outlets in regions and brands that support conditions are encouraged to no longer use non-degradable plastic packaging by the end of 2021.

Guangdong’s “most stringent plastic ban in history”

Effective from September 1, 2020
As the vanguard of plastic bans, Guangdong was the first province to start restricting plastics. Be the first to ban or restrict the production, sale and use of some plastic products in some cities and areas. Actively build a model province for banning plastics and take the lead in a comprehensive ban on plastics.

Xiaohan noticed that as early as August 21, 2020, the official website of the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission issued a notice on the “Implementation Opinions on Further Strengthening Plastic Pollution Control.” The notice pointed out that by the end of 2020, the use of non-degradable plastic bags will be prohibited in shopping malls, supermarkets, pharmacies, bookstores and other places in the built-up areas of Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as catering takeout services and various exhibition activities, and the use of non-degradable plastics will be regulated and restricted in trade markets. bag. By 2022, a number of replicable and scalable plastic reduction and green logistics models will be formed in areas with prominent plastic pollution problems and emerging areas such as e-commerce, express delivery, and takeout. By 2025, cities in the Pearl River Delta will basically achieve zero plastic waste landfilled. This opinion will be implemented from September 1, 2020 and will be valid for 5 years. Goal: By 2025, Pearl River Delta cities will basically achieve zero plastic waste landfilled.

2025

The degradable plastic market is expected to achieve revenue of 50 billion yuan
The word “plastic” is always associated with white pollution, and plastic seems to be the target of public criticism. However, in the opinion of experts, plastic itself is not a pollutant. Its harm lies in its continued presence in the environment in a non-degradable manner.

In fact, my country’s degradable plastics market has already started as early as 2012. However, due to sluggish market demand in the early stage, high raw material costs, limited production capacity, the overall development of the industry was slow, and some companies that entered the market earlier were even forced to withdraw due to long-term shortage of orders. transformation.

Until January 2020, the “Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution” was issued, requiring an orderly ban and restriction on the production, sale and use of some plastic products, active promotion of alternative products, and the official transition from “plastic restriction” to “plastic ban” “.

Affected by this, the market for degradable plastics as a substitute for traditional plastics has grown significantly, and orders have surged. Industry insiders predict that during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the degradable plastics market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11.3% by 2025. Revenue scale of more than 50 billion yuan.

Material sources: Heilongjiang Daily, Puyang Daily, Rule of Law Daily,