Non-degradable plastic bags are called "the worst invention of mankind in the 20th century". In addition to providing convenience for people's daily lives, non-degradable disposable plastic products are used on a large scale without restraint, resulting in rampant white pollution and becoming a major social nuisance.

Recently, the Hainan Provincial Information Office held a press conference to announce and interpret the "Implementation Plan for the Comprehensive Ban on the Production, Sale and Use of Disposable Non-degradable Plastic Products in Hainan Province" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") to the public, announcing that Hainan will gradually promote a comprehensive ban on plastic by category starting this year.

Upgrading "plastic restriction" to "plastic ban", Hainan's action can be said to be full of energy. Experts remind that to "ban plastic", we should summarize the drawbacks of the previous implementation of "plastic restriction" and do a good job in the research and development, production and promotion of alternative products.

After more than ten years of implementation, "plastic restriction" has been upgraded to "plastic ban"

Speaking of "plastic ban", the current "plastic restriction order" is a topic that cannot be avoided. Since 2008, China has implemented a "plastic restriction order" throughout China.

Zhang Jing, deputy director of the Soil Environment Management Division of the Hainan Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, said that the "plastic restriction order" has a significant effect on large supermarkets. According to statistics, the use of plastic bags in large supermarkets has decreased by about two-thirds in recent years, but it has little effect on farmers' markets. "At this stage, large shopping malls need to spend money to buy disposable plastic bags, and free plastic bags are still everywhere in farmers' markets, shops and other places. In addition, during this period, the Internet has promoted online consumption, and new formats such as takeout and express delivery have developed rapidly, and the use of plastic packaging, plastic tableware, etc. has increased sharply."

During the past decade, some provinces and cities in China and some localities have issued different plastic restriction regulations. After sorting out the effectiveness of plastic restriction in various places, the reporter found that in most areas, the plastic restriction process focused on the management of plastic shopping bags in large supermarkets, and lacked a specific supervision mechanism for the e-commerce field and farmers' markets.

In the "Plan" issued recently, specific solutions were proposed for the deficiencies in "industry standards" and "channel management": improve the standard system, establish a traceability system for fully biodegradable materials products, and strengthen the closed-loop management of market supervision and law enforcement.

"There is no Chinese standard for fully biodegradable products, and other provinces do not have relevant standards either, so Hainan needs to innovate and make the first truly fully biodegradable local standard." said Deng Xiaogang, director of the Hainan Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment.

Accelerate the research and development, production and supply of alternative products

"Limit plastic" becomes "plastic ban", and alternative products must be strongly supplemented.

In fact, the implementation of the "plastic ban" is not to ban all plastic products, but to prohibit the production, sale and use of non-degradable plastic bags, plastic tableware, etc. This requires accelerating the research and development, production and supply of alternative products to meet market demand.

To this end, the "Plan" proposes that Hainan will establish a demonstration base for the fully biodegradable plastic industry, organize the formulation of an industrial development plan, introduce advanced enterprises to cooperate with local enterprises, and form the island's disposable fully biodegradable plastic product production capacity.

In view of the characteristics of biodegradable materials as "green, environmentally friendly and renewable", scientists from various countries are working hard to develop new biodegradable materials.

It is understood that the latest research results of biodegradable materials in China are: imitation wood composite materials, intelligent seawater degradable materials, blue water biotechnology, and spider silk-like high-strength and high-toughness fully degradable biomass/polymer composite materials. Foreign research results mainly include: PET substitutes made of bio-based furan molecules, "sugar + carbon dioxide" biodegradable plastics, new milk protein films, etc.

"The biodegradable industry has developed to this day, whether in terms of raw materials or end products, most of the technical routes have matured, but there are still some problems that need to be solved in large-scale production." Lu Lianfeng, Secretary-General of the China Biodegradable Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance, introduced that the processing technology, equipment, and molds of biodegradable products currently need to be further explored and improved to meet the characteristics of biodegradable materials.

In addition, some special additives or additives used in the production and modification of biodegradable raw materials need to be further developed.

Strengthen social publicity and use biodegradable materials appropriately

Although the use of biodegradable materials is more environmentally friendly than plastics, it still belongs to the category of industrial products in the final analysis. Will it bring new environmental problems?

Lu Lianfeng believes that inappropriate, excessive use and unreasonable treatment methods will still have a certain impact on the environment.

He proposed that the production and development of biodegradable materials should pay attention to the conditionality of degradation. Materials such as polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene succinate (PBS) and its copolyester (PBAT) can be converted into carbon dioxide and water in 180 days under industrial composting conditions, but the degradation rate is relatively slow in soil, seawater and other environments. Therefore, when using and promoting biodegradable materials, it is necessary to strengthen social publicity, popularize relevant knowledge of biodegradable materials, and avoid the public's one-sided understanding of "degradable".

"In addition, according to the composting conditions, biodegradable material waste should be recycled separately and composted collectively, so as to ensure that biodegradable materials can achieve the greatest environmental protection effect." The "Plan" issued by Hainan Province this time regards the improvement of the domestic waste recycling system as an independent work task, highlighting the importance of the recycling link.

The large-scale production of biodegradable materials will occupy the current arable land resources. In this regard, Lu Lianfeng suggested that China has a high corn inventory. When producing biodegradable materials with starch as raw material, using corn as much as possible can not only reduce the occupation of arable land, but also help the country solve the turnover of grain reserves. (Wang Zhuhua, reporter Jiang Dongzhou, Liu Hao)

Plastic Industry Video