Disposable foam tableware is lifted today. Experts call for the establishment of industry standards as soon as possible
Original title: Disposable foam tableware is lifted today, experts call for industry standards to be established as soon as possible
Disposable foam tableware is lifted (data map)
China Radio Network, Beijing, May 1 (Reporter Shu Jingjing) According to China Voice's "News Evening Peak", disposable foam plastic tableware will be raised and proud, openly step onto the stage, and pack meals for diners from today (1st). According to the decision of the relevant clauses of the "Guidelines for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2011 Edition)" revised by the National Development and Reform Commission, disposable foam tableware will be deleted from the "elimination product catalogue". Disposable foam plastic tableware that has been banned for 14 years has officially ushered in the "lifting of the ban day".
But in fact, since the ban on the use of foam tableware began in 1999, this white, thin and brittle lunch box has never been out of people's sight for 14 years. It can still be seen everywhere in roadside stalls and small restaurants. According to conservative estimates in the industry, there are at least 100 to 200 foam lunch box companies in China, with an annual output of about 14 billion. The ban is not eliminated because there is a market, but the problems of environmental pollution and food safety hazards are still not solved.
Disposable foam tableware is banned but many consumers do not care
Roadside stalls, night markets and takeaways are the places where disposable foam tableware is used most. The spicy hot pot and fried rice noodles just out of the pot are fragrant and delicious, but many consumers do not care about what they are used for. For small merchants, the ban and the lifting of the ban are not taken seriously. They use them whether they should or not.
Reporter: Is this the only foam one?
Stall owner: Yes.
Reporter: I want the plastic one, do you have it?
Stall owner: Sorry, no. We only have this kind, all of them are like this. I am afraid that it will cost more than one yuan each, which must be expensive.
Reporter: Then will it be hot...
Stall owner: This cannot be hot, it cannot be hot.
The stall owner who said that the lunch box should not be hot is putting hot dishes into the lunch box. Consumers have no opinion on the existence of foam lunch boxes.
Consumer: I am also using it and I know it is harmful. It is mainly to save more time.
The Food Safety Institute of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has conducted toxicity experiments. Foam tableware can be guaranteed to be safe when used in a normal living environment. However, the media has revealed that in some foam tableware factories, the raw materials used in production actually include imported waste plastics or recycled waste tape boxes, waste foam lunch boxes, shock-absorbing blocks, insulation boards, advertising boards, etc. Recycled materials.
Expert: After fourteen years, the white garbage recycling system has not been established
On the one hand, merchants and consumers are still using foam tableware to pack food. On the other hand, the low threshold and lack of supervision have allowed unqualified products to flood the market. With the lifting of the ban, people questioned whether the reasons for the original strict ban - white pollution, food safety hazards, and recycling difficulties - have been solved now? Dong Jinshi, executive vice president of the International Food Packaging Association, believes that the answer is no.
Dong Jinshi: Now, after fourteen years, the recycling system has not been established, and the safety problem is more serious than in the past. In the past, pure food raw materials were used for production, which was fair competition; now many companies are using waste plastics and some imported foreign garbage for production. Since foam lunch boxes have been eliminated by the state, the Quality Supervision Bureau basically does not care. Therefore, foam lunch boxes have long been outside of policy and supervision.
Foam tableware is an industry problem. The regular production cost price is higher than the selling price
Disposable foam tableware has many disadvantages, and the media has reported a lot, including preheating deformation, release of harmful substances, difficulty in degradation and pollution of the environment, etc. However, the vitality of this kind of tableware is particularly tenacious, and in some places it even occupies more than half of the disposable tableware market share. Since foam tableware has a market and now has an identity, how to better manufacture, use and recycle it is a problem that needs to be solved at the moment.
In the past 14 years, the production of foam tableware has not stopped. According to conservative estimates in the industry, there are at least 100 to 200 foam lunch box companies in China, with an annual output of about 14 billion. The low production cost and entry threshold are the source of its vitality, but the problem of irregular production is also obvious. Zhu Guorong, head of Shanghai Yaofeng Plastic Products Co., Ltd., admitted that under regular production, the cost of raw materials has exceeded the selling price.
Zhu Guorong: You calculate the cost. Each regular raw material is 13.5 yuan per kilogram and sells for 13,500 yuan per ton. To produce this thing, the cost of one kilogram of raw materials is 27 yuan. Now it is 24 yuan in the market. We don¡¯t buy raw materials to make it. We will lose money if we sell it.
There are many factories like Yaofeng. Zhang Xiujuan, an analyst at Zhuochuang Information, said that the problem of foam tableware is industry-wide.
Zhang Xiujuan: More than 95% are informal enterprises, and some are even family workshops. Only 5% can meet the requirements and are more formal. The so-called formal means that the scale is relatively large, and the materials used can meet the food grade requirements in certain standards; other informal, illegal, small-scale, whatever is cheap.
Experts call for the establishment of industry standards as soon as possible
In this regard, Dong Jinshi, executive vice president of the International Food Packaging Association, believes that the lifting of the ban is only the beginning, and more important industry standards must be established as soon as possible to make the production of foam tableware have rules to follow.
Dong Jinshi: The quality issues and access conditions are not clearly stated. What conditions have been restored? Can the original production enterprises produce at will? Because there are no standards, these enterprises are blindly producing according to their own experience in production. If it is restored now, the key is to determine the standards.
Qian Guijing, vice president of the China Light Industry Federation and chairman of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association, said that at present, five relevant industry associations have drafted four management systems for industry management, enterprise access, quality management, and waste recycling and reuse, and submitted them to relevant departments of the State Council.