Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission has opened a column on its official website titled "I Offer Suggestions for the Prevention and Control of Plastic Waste Pollution". The NDRC invites the public to provide opinions and suggestions on which consumer places and commodities should restrict or prohibit the use of plastic products, which substitutes are suitable for promotion and application, and how to regulate the use of plastic products. In recent years, with the development of new formats such as e-commerce and express delivery, the consumption of plastic lunch boxes and plastic packaging in China has risen rapidly. Some experts believe that the problems caused by excessive plastic waste have affected the future survival and development of mankind.

The large-scale popularization of plastic packaging caters to the living habits of mass production, mass consumption and mass abandonment in modern society, but it also puts a great burden on the environment and resources. According to statistics from relevant industry associations, in 2016, the use of plastic bags in the express delivery industry alone in China reached 14.7 billion. Taking Beijing as an example, the weight of plastic bags and disposable plastic packaging in the domestic waste generated in 2016 reached about 436,000 tons, and an average of 1,200 tons of plastic waste was generated every day.

Liu Jianguo, professor at the School of Environment, Tsinghua University:Behind every plastic bag, there is the consumption of corresponding resources and energy, including the emission of some pollutants. Once these plastic wastes are produced, no matter how you deal with them, the way they are used will have a negative impact on the environment.

Experts said that at present, China's formal waste plastic recycling and processing enterprises are still in their infancy, and there are generally problems of outdated processes and backward technology. The recycling of plastic products mainly relies on the army of scavengers. The actual recycling rate is about 40%, and the remaining huge amount of plastic waste still has to be handled by landfill and incineration.

Lu Xiaozhong, Secretary-General of the China Recycled Plastics Industry Standardization Working Committee:If this problem is not solved, it will actually affect our soil and groundwater resources first. If water resources are not safe, then humans will actually have no way to survive.

The "white pollution" caused by plastic products is not unique to China. Data shows that in 2015, the world produced 440 million tons of plastic, more than twice the output in 1998. At this rate, by 2050, there will be 13 billion tons of plastic waste on the earth. In order to cope with this plastic crisis, some European countries have adopted mandatory policies through the government to subsidize the recycling of renewable resources; while Japan has cultivated the quality of its citizens and done a good job of garbage sorting from the source. Experts believe that China should also establish a subsidy mechanism for the recycling of waste plastics and other renewable resources as soon as possible, and adopt the principle of whoever produces should recycle to increase the recycling rate.

The effect of the plastic restriction order for ten years is not satisfactory

The National Development and Reform Commission solicited opinions on the use of plastic products in order to make the use of plastic products more standardized. In fact, China had already issued the "plastic restriction order" before 2008, and the regulations on the standardized use of plastic products were not far from the daily lives of residents. However, we have conducted many surveys over the years and found that whether in the production or consumption links, this "plastic restriction order" that has been implemented for nearly ten years has not been able to reduce the number of plastic bags.

On the streets of Beijing, some breakfast stalls are full of plastic bags.

Payment, delivery...According to different requirements, the stall owners skillfully pack the buns, fried cakes, etc. in plastic bags and give them to consumers to take away.

In some large supermarkets, consumers' hands and shopping carts are full of large and small plastic bags.

According to the requirements of the "Plastic Restriction Order", supermarkets cannot provide plastic shopping bags for free. The reporter saw that few people were interested in the environmentally friendly and degradable plastic bags that need to be paid for at the checkout counter, but in the shopping area, free hand-torn bags were provided. Because there are no restrictions, some bundles of hand-torn bags were quickly torn away, and some consumers even tore off a few more bags after wrapping their things.

Consumer: Anyway, it's provided by the supermarket for free, no money, just tear off a few more for backup.

In the farmers' market, the reporter saw that some vegetable stalls also took the initiative to hang out bundles of plastic bags, which were completely free for consumers to use without any restrictions or supervision.

Reporter:Plastic bags are free, right?

Stall owner:Free.

Reporter:How many plastic bags do you use every day?

Stall owner:At least 10 yuan. I can't sell without plastic bags. I can't let people come and grab a handful, right?

For things that are inconvenient to carry, such as cold dishes, meat, and fresh fish, I have to use multiple plastic bags, with a large bag inside a small bag.

Stall owner:Of course I have to use plastic bags. Otherwise, how can I put them in? One bag is not enough. Some fish leak (water), so I need two.

It takes a long time to control white pollution

In order to reduce plastic waste pollution, the National Development and Reform Commission is studying and formulating relevant policy documents. According to the principle of "limiting a batch, replacing a batch, and standardizing a batch", policy measures will be proposed for plastic products used in different production, life, consumption and other situations, in different fields and categories. The reporter also learned in the investigation that in order to truly eliminate the process of white pollution, the whole society needs to work hard for a long time and persevere.

Many residents said that most people are actually very clear about the white pollution caused by plastic bags, but because there are no good substitutes in daily life to replace the more convenient plastic bags, they are actually helpless.

Beijing citizens:I can't do it yet. This needs to start from the source. You come to solve it for me. Give me things without plastic bags, and I will put them in my pocket and take them away.

As for the plastic bags discarded by residents, the reporter saw that the actual sorting effect was not ideal at the garbage sorting site at the back end.

Staff at the garbage sorting site:The lighter plastics are blown out now. Some of them may still have something inside that cannot be blown out, so they all go to the incineration plant.

Reporter:How many plastic bags can the fan blow out? Half?

Staff at the garbage sorting site:No, no, not even one tenth.

A large number of plastic bags have entered the incineration plant, adding a lot of pressure to the incineration process. It is understood that plastic products will produce dioxins and other harmful substances at a temperature of 400 to 800 degrees. In order to reduce these harmful gases, the garbage incineration plant needs to raise the furnace temperature to 800 to 1100 degrees for a long time, and let the gas stay in the furnace for more than two seconds. In addition, a large amount of activated carbon needs to be added for adsorption.

Staff of the garbage incineration plant:You see, plastic has a high calorific value, but I don¡¯t want so much plastic to come in. Plastic actually costs a lot to my environmental protection control, and most of the cost is here.

For this reason, experts suggest that to eliminate white pollution, companies should first reduce excessive packaging from the source and use safer and more environmentally friendly materials. From the perspective of consumers, they should promote a healthier and greener lifestyle and minimize the use of disposable plastic products. When they have to be discarded, they should be placed separately to keep plastic products from being contaminated by other garbage.

Lu Xiaozhong, Secretary-General of the China Recycled Plastics Industry Standardization Working Committee:We should mobilize the power of the whole society to really catch this matter, because the problem of discarded plastics has affected us for thousands of years, so we should mobilize more governments at all levels to pay attention to it, and we should educate the general public to raise such awareness, do a better job in our garbage disposal, and minimize the amount of disposable waste. (CCTV reporter Jiang Xiaoping)

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