"You have a new takeaway order, please handle it in time!" During the peak dining period, takeaway order reminders sounded one after another in a spicy hot pot restaurant on Chaoyang Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing. The waiters were busy packing the meals with various lunch boxes, and the takeaway guys waiting to pick up the meals often urged them.

Behind the booming business of spicy hot pot restaurants is the rapid development of online food ordering. Catering takeaways have led to a surge in the use of disposable tableware, posing a threat to the ecological environment. Not long ago, the Chongqing Green Volunteer Federation, an environmental protection organization, sued the three major food delivery platforms, Ele.me, Meituan Takeaway, and Baidu Takeaway, to the court on the grounds of causing waste of resources and environmental pollution. How to solve the environmental dilemma of takeaway garbage has attracted more and more attention from the society.

The daily order volume of the three major food delivery platforms is about 20 million, and most of the garbage generated is landfilled or incinerated

Beijing citizen Liu Ke used to order takeout frequently because he didn't want to cook on weekends but wanted to improve his meals.

"I didn't think so at first, but later I found that packaging was really wasteful. There are big boxes for main dishes, small boxes for side dishes, sealed bags for seasonings, and aluminum foil sealing paper for barbecue. In order to prevent soup leakage, the lunch boxes are wrapped with layers of plastic wrap, and there are plastic spoons, disposable chopsticks, toothpicks, paper towels, plastic bags, order slips... I was wondering in my heart that there are so many packages, most of which are plastic products and are difficult to degrade. How much more garbage is there than cooking by yourself! Realizing this, I rarely order takeout." Liu Ke said.

The merchants also have their own difficulties in packaging takeout. Boss Wang of the Malatang restaurant told reporters that Chinese food is different from Western food. It has more soup and oil, so it is not suitable to be packaged in paper boxes. Considering the cost factor, degradable lunch boxes are not suitable either. At present, only plastic lunch boxes that are easy to use and cheap can be used. "If the packaging is not tight, the soup will spill out, which is easy to cause complaints. So the store will pack as tightly as possible to avoid complaints, so it is not surprising that there is so much garbage."

Since 2011, China's online takeaway catering market has maintained rapid growth. The "2017 China Online Takeaway Catering Industry Research Report" released by iiMedia Research shows that in 2016, the scale of online catering takeaway users in China reached 256 million, and the market scale reached 166.24 billion yuan. In 2017, the scale of online catering takeaway users is expected to reach 301 million, and the market scale is expected to reach 204.56 billion yuan.

According to public data, the total daily order volume of the three major takeaway platforms, Ele.me, Meituan Takeaway, and Baidu Takeaway, is about 20 million. Calculated as one plastic bag per takeaway order and 0.06 square meters per plastic bag, the plastic bags used every day can cover an area of 1.2 million square meters, covering 168 football fields.

An environmental protection organization found that an average of 3.27 disposable plastic lunch boxes/cups are consumed for each takeout order, which means that more than 60 million lunch boxes are consumed every day. Assuming that each lunch box is 5 cm high, the height of the stacked boxes is equivalent to 339 Mount Everests.

Wen Zongguo, director of the Circular Economy Industry Research Center of Tsinghua University, said that the plastic products used in takeout are mostly made of polypropylene and polyethylene, which are difficult to degrade. In addition to lunch boxes, cups, plastic bags, etc., takeout garbage is also mixed with food residues. At present, after the takeout garbage enters the sanitation system for handling domestic waste, part of it is landfilled, part of it is incinerated, and only a small amount is recycled.

"A large amount of takeaway garbage directly or indirectly increases pollution to the atmosphere, water and soil. For non-degradable plastic products, landfill will keep the garbage in the soil for a long time; if it is incinerated, the chlorine element that may be contained in it will make flue gas treatment more difficult and increase the probability of generating toxic and harmful substances. If the takeaway food residues are not handled in time, it is easy to affect environmental hygiene and increase the pressure of terminal waste treatment." Wen Zonggu said.

Degradable lunch boxes do not have the conditions to completely replace disposable plastic lunch boxes

At present, the recycling rate of takeaway garbage is very low. Liu Jianguo, professor at the School of Environment, Tsinghua University and deputy director of the Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Environmental Safety of the Ministry of Education, said that takeaway garbage is relatively scattered and has low recycling value. Moreover, most of it is attached with oil, soup and food residues. The economic and environmental costs of recycling are relatively high and unprofitable, so naturally no one recycles it.

So, how to solve the environmental problems caused by takeaway garbage?

Some people advocate the promotion of the use of degradable lunch boxes, but this is not a perfect solution at present. "Degradable lunch boxes are usually much heavier than disposable plastic lunch boxes. If they are only partially degradable, it is not very meaningful; even if they are completely degradable, they need to be degraded under specific conditions for half a year to two years. They will not "disappear" immediately. After being discarded, they still need to be collected and transported as garbage." Liu Jianguo said that if the terminal treatment facility of the degradable lunch box is a composting plant or a landfill, it still has a certain meaning. If the terminal is an incineration plant, it is basically meaningless. Moreover, the production and manufacturing process and the processing and utilization process of degradable lunch boxes also consume resources and energy and emit pollutants. Their environmental friendliness should be examined from the perspective of the entire life cycle.

Wen Zongguo said that starting from the analysis of the entire life cycle, a systematic and scientific evaluation of the takeaway logistics, waste emissions, treatment and disposal links should be carried out to avoid taking measures in a single link and the "hidden" transfer of environmental impacts between different links. For example, some local governments require paper lunch boxes for takeout, but in fact, the production process of paper lunch boxes will also have environmental impacts such as water pollution, and it is difficult to recycle after holding food. It is necessary to evaluate whether its environmental impact is really smaller than that of plastic lunch boxes from the perspective of the entire life cycle.

Some people advocate using "sharing thinking" to solve the problem, such as using thick recyclable fast food boxes, stainless steel insulation boxes, etc., but experts such as Liu Jianguo are not optimistic about this. "Lunch boxes are used to hold food, and safety and hygiene are the first priority. Who will guarantee and how to ensure safety and hygiene after "sharing"? How many consumers can accept the "sharing" of lunch boxes?" Liu Jianguo said.

Liu Jianguo said that degradable lunch boxes and shared lunch boxes can be used as beneficial supplements, but these products are not yet qualified to replace disposable plastic lunch boxes.

To solve the problem from the perspective of the entire supply chain, all parties concerned need to share responsibility

The environmental problems caused by takeout garbage have attracted the attention of relevant departments and related industries.

On November 2, He Lifeng, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that the NDRC will work with relevant departments to study and adjust the "plastic restriction order" and study and formulate relevant implementation plans to take the lead in restricting the use of a series of non-degradable plastic packaging in industries such as takeout.

In June this year, Meituan Waimai, together with the China Cuisine Association, the China Environmental Protection Foundation and hundreds of catering takeout companies, established the "Green Takeout Alliance" and jointly issued the "Green Takeout Industry Convention" to promote the use of green tableware. Meituan Waimai also established a chief environmental officer and launched the "Qingshan Plan" to promote the solution of environmental protection issues in the takeout industry.

Wen Zongguo said that it is necessary to systematically solve the environmental problems caused by takeout garbage from the entire supply chain, and the takeout platform, merchants in the supply chain and consumers need to bear common but differentiated environmental responsibilities.

As the core link in the supply chain, the takeout platform has an unshirkable responsibility. Liu Jianguo said that the extended producer responsibility system should be implemented in takeout companies, and takeout companies should bear certain costs for recycling and processing takeout garbage, rather than being completely paid by the government or the whole people. Some experts also believe that food delivery platforms and merchants can set up recycling and processing funds and allocate them to food box recycling or processing companies according to sales.

The government should shoulder the responsibility of guidance and supervision. Liu Jianguo believes that packaging waste management regulations should be formulated at the national level to define the responsibilities of all parties involved in the design, production, circulation, recycling, processing and utilization of various packaging, including food delivery waste, and regulate the behavior of individuals, enterprises and governments.

Experts also suggest accelerating the establishment of an effective garbage classification and recycling system, strengthening the classification and recycling of food delivery waste, and allowing enterprises to actively participate in the food delivery waste recycling system through subsidies and other means, so that more garbage can be turned into treasure. At the same time, increase the intensity of scientific and technological research and development, and develop low-cost and more suitable environmentally friendly materials to replace traditional packaging materials.

Not long ago, Meituan Takeaway and Ele.me added the "No tableware required" option on the APP order page to reduce the use of disposable tableware such as chopsticks and napkins. Ele.me also provides points rewards for users who choose "No tableware required", which can be exchanged for items in the points mall. Currently, not many consumers choose the "no tableware required" option. Sometimes, even if consumers choose this option, some businesses will still provide tableware for the sake of convenience or fear of bad reviews.

Liu Jianguo and other experts called on individuals to reduce unnecessary takeaway consumption as much as possible, starting with themselves and small things, and practicing green living and green consumption. All parties must take responsibility, do not let environmental protection actions become a decoration, implement various feasible measures, and promote the solution to the environmental protection dilemma of takeaway garbage.

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