The "Opinions on Further Strengthening Plastic Pollution Control" is an upgraded version of the "Plastic Ban" in 2007. It has gotten rid of the previous reliance on "price leverage" and has a wider coverage and stronger operability.

To win the battle against "white pollution", we need to fight a "combination punch" and require the participation of the whole society and the whole region in plastic ban governance

Due to the increasing use of plastic products and their difficulty in degradation, which poses a huge threat to the environment, the legislature should consider raising the "Plastic Ban" to the national legislative level

"I haven't finished a cup of coffee yet, and the paper straw has been soaked!" This is an embarrassing thing that Zhao Lijuan, a Beijing citizen, encountered recently. Zhao Lijuan's embarrassment is related to the recently upgraded "ban on plastic straws".

On January 16, 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening Plastic Pollution Control" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which is called the "strongest plastic ban in history". The "Opinions" stipulate that "by the end of 2020, the use of non-degradable disposable plastic straws will be banned in the catering industry across China." This provision is also known as the "ban on plastics" in the industry.

Half a year later, on July 10, 2020, based on the "Opinions", nine departments including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the "Notice on Solidly Promoting Plastic Pollution Control" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), requiring all localities to clarify the specific regulatory departments for banning and restricting plastics in the catering industry in light of their actual conditions and strengthen supervision and management, guide and urge relevant companies to make good product substitutions and stop using disposable plastic straws and disposable plastic tableware within the time limit specified in the "Opinions".

A reporter from the "Legal Daily" found that since the implementation of the "Opinions", the catering industry has launched a vigorous "plastic reduction movement", replacing plastic straws with paper straws, plastic packaging bags with paper bags, and starting to use wooden spoons, knives and forks. But it cannot be ignored that the enforcement of the "ban on plastics" and the "plastic restriction order" in China varies.

Some experts believe that whether the plastic restriction can be successful depends not only on whether scientific and strict standards can be formulated for enterprises, but also on whether clear and specific enforcement basis can be provided for law enforcers, and whether optional and available alternative methods can be provided for consumers. The final foothold of these problems is to establish a complete and sound legal system for plastic restriction.

The plastic restriction order has become a decoration after failure

The new plastic restriction policy faces new challenges

People are not unfamiliar with the "plastic restriction order".

As early as December 31, 2007, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Notice on Restricting the Production, Sale and Use of Plastic Shopping Bags", marking that China has entered the "plastic restriction era". The notice stipulates that all supermarkets, shopping malls, bazaars and other commodity retail places shall implement a paid use system for plastic shopping bags, and shall not provide plastic shopping bags for free. Commodity retail places must clearly mark the price of plastic shopping bags and charge the price of plastic shopping bags in addition to the commodity price. They shall not provide them free of charge or include the price of plastic shopping bags in the total price of the goods and collect them together. The content of the above notice is called the "plastic ban".

In the early days of the implementation of the "plastic ban", the use of non-degradable plastic bags in China was curbed to a certain extent. According to the news released by the Environmental Protection Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, the "plastic ban" has achieved obvious results after 7 years of implementation. The use of plastic shopping bags in supermarkets and shopping malls has generally decreased by more than two-thirds, and the cumulative reduction of plastic shopping bags is about 1.4 million tons, which is equivalent to saving 8.4 million tons of oil, saving more than 12 million tons of standard coal, and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 30 million tons.

However, with the development of Internet technology, the rapid development of express delivery, take-out and other industries, the "plastic ban" faces new challenges and has almost become a decoration.

Hu Gongqun, a legislative advisory expert of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, believes that the many years of plastic ban process have shown that banning the production and use of non-degradable plastic products and reducing "white pollution" is a long-term and arduous task that cannot be achieved overnight and should be scientific and strategic. The early "plastic ban" was based on the principle of "whoever uses it pays for it". This kind of effort from the demand side to achieve the purpose of "limitation" is difficult to achieve the expected effect. From the practice, most consumers do not seem to care about spending an extra two or three yuan for convenient plastic bags; some businesses are willing to provide them to consumers "for free" in order to attract customers; some regulatory departments do not pay attention, go through the motions, and have been in a passive state. In fact, only when all stakeholders take the initiative and change "I have to limit" to "I want to limit", can plastic restrictions really achieve results.

A new round of plastic restrictions begins

Local policies promote plastic restrictions

In January 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening Plastic Pollution Control". Only half a year later, the "Notice" was issued to make arrangements for further improving plastic pollution control.

After the "Opinions" were officially implemented, Wuhan citizen Xu Zhihui found that more and more paper packaging boxes were used instead of disposable plastic lunch boxes in the takeaways delivered recently. "In the past, paper boxes were only used when ordering light meals such as salads, but now paper packaging boxes are also used when ordering stir-fried dishes."

The reporter found that some beverage shops provide a plastic tool for cutting the beverage cap in response to the situation where straws are not provided or because paper straws are not easy to poke the seal of the cup. In a beverage shop in Beijing Jinyuan Yansha, a plastic knife is provided with the beverage, which states "Please cut 2-3cm along the edge of the cup and drink directly."

Other beverage shops provide a plastic needle for cutting the mouth of the cup, and mark "Little secret for straws: first use a star-shaped pick to cut the mouth of the cup, and then insert the straw. Paper straws will become soft if soaked for a long time, please use it as soon as possible."

In the "Cunei Xiaojuncun" beverage shop in Beijing Ito Yokado Shopping Mall, the reporter saw that the shop was still using plastic straws. The clerk explained that the existing straws have not been used up, and in order to avoid waste, they have not been replaced.

The data show that in order to further improve the work of plastic pollution control, the "Opinions" divides the goals into three stages: 2020, 2022, and 2025. The first step is to take the lead in banning or restricting the production, sale and use of some plastic products in some regions and fields by the end of 2020; the second step is to form a number of replicable and popularizable plastic reduction and green logistics models in areas with prominent plastic pollution problems and emerging fields such as e-commerce, express delivery, and takeout by 2022; the third step is to basically establish a management system for the production, circulation, consumption, recycling and disposal of plastic products by 2025, significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste landfill in key cities, and effectively control plastic pollution.

At the local level, according to the requirements of local management responsibility, all localities should issue provincial implementation plans before mid-August 2020, break down tasks in detail, and consolidate responsibilities layer by layer; urge provincial capitals, cities with independent planning status, and cities at or above the prefecture level to combine local realities, focus on the phased goals by the end of 2020, analyze and evaluate key and difficult issues in various fields, and study and propose specific and practical and effective promotion measures to ensure that the goals and tasks are completed on schedule.

The reporter learned that in accordance with the requirements of the "Notice", in order to ensure that the various phased goals and tasks of plastic pollution control are completed on schedule by the end of 2020, more than 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in China have successively issued provincial implementation plans to further improve plastic pollution control. This "big move" of plastic restriction in China is a response to the new plastic restriction policy at the national level.

The reporter found that some large supermarkets and shopping malls in Chongqing have already provided degradable plastic bags for a fee, but most stall owners in the collective markets still provide ordinary plastic bags for free. As a hard-hit area of "white pollution", the takeaway and express delivery industries are still using non-degradable plastic bags and tableware.

At a seafood farmers' market in Nanning, the reporter found that in front of the seafood, vegetable and fruit stalls, there were uniformly provided degradable plastic bags hanging, but a small number of stalls mixed degradable plastic bags with ordinary plastic bags.

At a farmers' market in Guangzhou, when the reporter bought cooked food, the owner used degradable plastic bags to handle the cooked food with outer packaging, but for bulk weighed food, ordinary non-degradable plastic bags were still provided. There was a braised food store hanging degradable plastic bags, but actually used ordinary plastic bags with franchise logos.

Zhang Yunshu, a professor at the School of Law of Anhui University of Finance and Economics, said that the "Opinion" proposed a "timetable" for further strengthening the governance of plastic pollution, which is regarded as an upgraded version of the "Plastic Restriction Order" in 2007, getting rid of the previous reliance on "price levers", and the ban covers a wider range and is more operational. The "Opinion" covers the entire process of the plastic life cycle, not only setting a timetable for bans and restrictions on some plastic products, but also emphasizing the promotion and application of alternative products and models, and regulating the recycling and disposal of plastic waste. "From a policy perspective, the implementation of the 'plastic restriction order' is a gradual process," said Zhang Yunshu.

Plastic restriction costs bring new challenges

Plastic restriction needs to raise the legislative level

For catering companies, in addition to corresponding policies and considering user experience, cost issues are also an important criterion that needs to be measured.

The reporter searched on the shopping website "Alibaba" and found that the price of a disposable plastic straw with a diameter of 13mm and a length of 23mm is about 0.01 yuan, the price of a paper straw of similar specifications is about 0.02 yuan to 0.03 yuan, and the price of a PLA straw (PLA is a new type of bio-based and renewable biodegradable material) is about 0.04 yuan to 0.05 yuan. Reusable straws of other materials are more expensive.

The reporter learned from a number of packaging material manufacturers that the mainstream alternatives to disposable plastic lunch boxes are aluminum foil boxes and plant pulp. Although these two materials are environmentally friendly and degradable, they have problems such as low production capacity, high cost, and varying degrees of inability to withstand high temperatures and cannot hold soup. This is also the biggest obstacle faced by many businesses in the process of promoting environmentally friendly lunch boxes.

According to a catering operator in Nanchang, the wholesale price of each foam plastic lunch box is about 0.09 yuan, and the price of each disposable pulp environmentally friendly and degradable lunch box with a standard square size is about 1.5 yuan; the price of each disposable wheat straw pulp lunch box with a small four-grid size is about 2.5 yuan. Chinese food with soup has a higher demand for the usability of environmentally friendly lunch boxes, which will also lead to higher costs for environmentally friendly lunch boxes.

Shanghai lawyer Lin Sigui believes that from a technical point of view, there are many options for environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic straws. How to improve the user experience while controlling costs is a difficult problem facing the industry. The price is too expensive, which is a very realistic problem. The room for improvement in the drop resistance, heat resistance, and corrosion resistance of degradable plastics is another issue. In the specific implementation of the "plastic restriction order", it is inevitable that it will have a certain impact on the production of some industries and enterprises and the convenience of residents' lives. The implementation of various measures requires strong cooperation and support from all sectors of society.

The reporter found that in order to promote the ban on non-degradable plastics, various places combined garbage classification with plastic restrictions to "correct" residents' living habits.

The reporter found that there is no legislation specifically for plastic restrictions. The current legal basis for plastic restrictions includes the Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste, the Product Quality Law, and the Law on the Promotion of Circular Economy.

Article 69 of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste stipulates that the state prohibits and restricts the production, sale, and use of disposable plastic products such as non-degradable plastic bags in accordance with the law. Commodity retail establishments, e-commerce platform companies, express delivery companies, and takeaway companies shall report the use and recycling of disposable plastic products such as plastic bags to the competent departments such as commerce and postal services in accordance with relevant national regulations.

In terms of penalties, Article 106 of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste stipulates that if anyone violates the provisions of this Law, fails to comply with the relevant national regulations on prohibiting or restricting the use of disposable plastic products such as non-degradable plastic bags, or fails to report the use of disposable plastic products such as plastic bags in accordance with relevant national regulations, the competent departments of commerce, postal services, etc. of the local people's government at or above the county level shall order him to correct the violation and impose a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 100,000 yuan.

However, the existing provisions do not provide detailed regulations on plastic restrictions.

Take straws as an example. There is currently no unified production standard. The production materials and production standards of existing straws are not unified, and there is no national standard for degradable straws. Industry insiders told reporters that most of the standards currently used in the market are industry standards or enterprise standards.

The reporter searched the "National Standard Information Disclosure Service Platform" with "straw" as the keyword, and could only see one national standard, "GB/T24693-2009 Polypropylene Drinking Straws", two national standard plans, "20071427-T-469 Polypropylene Drinking Straws" (published) and "20192206-T-469 Fully Biodegradable Drinking Straws" (under approval), and one industry standard, "QB/T4633-2014 Polylactic Acid Cold Drinking Straws".

Guo Zeqiang, a professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that plastic restriction is the general trend, and the "Plastic Restriction Order" has been fully upgraded. To win the battle against "white pollution", it is necessary to fight a "combination punch" and the whole society and the whole region need to participate in plastic restriction governance. At the legislative level, the state needs to provide law enforcers with clear and specific law enforcement basis, refine the legal responsibilities for the "Plastic Restriction Order", formulate scientific and strict standards for enterprises, inject development momentum into the supply chain of degradable products, and provide consumers with optional and available alternatives. "The Opinion was issued in the form of departmental regulations, which is of a low legislative level and lacks authority. As the use of plastic products increases day by day and they are difficult to degrade, posing a huge threat to the environment, the legislature should consider raising the "plastic restriction order" to the national legislative level." Guo Zeqiang said. (Reporter Wang Yang, trainee reporter Bai Chuxuan)

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