Plastic takeout lunch boxes, plastic shopping bags, milk tea straws… Most of these plastic products that can be seen everywhere in life are non-degradable disposable plastic products, which pose certain environmental pollution risks. At present, our country has already launched a series of actions against these non-degradable disposable plastic products. For example, at the end of 2007, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Notice on Restricting the Production and Sales of Plastic Shopping Bags”; in 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the “Opinions on Further Strengthening Plastic Pollution Control.”
It is worth noting that since my country began to implement the plastic restriction order on June 1, 2008, various provinces across the country have also formulated and launched various action plans and implementation methods in stages based on their own situations.
Many provinces and cities are upgrading their “plastic restriction orders”
For example, on October 13, 2023, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province issued an announcement that the “Regulations on the Management of Non-degradable Plastic Products in Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture” had been adopted at the fourth meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th People’s Congress of Qinghai Province. Approved on September 27, 2023, and effective from January 1, 2024. In addition, previously, the local plastic restriction regulations of another state in Qinghai Province, the “Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Management Regulations on Non-degradable Disposable Plastic Products”, have also been implemented on October 1, 2023.
On September 22, the Yanliang Branch of the Xi’an Ecological Environment Bureau, in conjunction with the District Development and Reform Commission, the District Urban Management Bureau, the District Market Supervision Bureau and other relevant departments, established an inspection team to inspect key areas such as catering enterprises, farmers’ markets, small and medium-sized supermarkets, and pharmacies within the jurisdiction. Special law enforcement inspections on plastic pollution control were carried out. At the same time as the inspection, the staff also implemented the “plastic ban and restriction” policy and relevant laws and regulations on ecological and environmental protection to the person in charge of the site, requiring them to consciously abide by the policy regulations and effectively fulfill the main responsibility for ecological and environmental protection.
In July, the Henan Provincial Government organized relevant departments to conduct a comprehensive survey of the degradable materials industry in Henan Province, and held a special meeting to conduct analysis and research. Judging from the basic research and research, the time has come to formulate the “Regulations”, and the ban on plastic bags is feasible. Subsequently, on September 25, the fifth meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th Henan Provincial People’s Congress was held in Zhengzhou, and the “Henan Provincial Provisions on Prohibiting and Restricting Non-degradable Disposable Plastic Products (Draft)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Regulations (Draft)” ) is submitted for review. This time the “Regulations (Draft)” adopts a “small incision” simplified legislative approach, focusing on solving practical problems through legislation.
In addition, since Hainan Province promulgated and implemented the “Regulations on the Prohibition of Disposable Non-degradable Plastic Products in Hainan Special Economic Zone” nationwide on December 1, 2020, it has also formulated and released 3 batches of “plastic ban” lists, including 2 major categories and 12 sub-categories. Non-biodegradable plastic products are included in the list of banned plastics. A Hainan plastic ban management information platform has also been built to implement traceable management of fully biodegradable alternatives. We will continue to improve the supervision and law enforcement system using the farmers’ market as a breakthrough for the entire plastic ban.
The plastics industry urgently needs to accelerate its transformation and upgrading
It can be seen from the frequent national and local plastic ban and restriction policies that restrictions on the use of plastic products are a general trend, which has a potentially huge impact on traditional plastic products companies. It is understood that my country’s plastic products have the characteristics of many types, large technological span, wide application, large market demand, and the majority of market participants are small and medium-sized enterprises, overcapacity of mid-to-low-end products, fierce competition, and low market concentration.
As restrictions on non-degradable plastics become wider and more diverse, the plastics industry will undoubtedly face more and more challenges. In this regard, industry insiders believe that for the plastics industry, it is necessary to accelerate transformation and upgrading development; it is necessary to completely, accurately and comprehensively understand and implement new development concepts, proactively adapt to new changes and new markets, and seize green and low-carbon development opportunities. . For example, in the field of plastic films, we can focus on the production of high value-added functional films, such as optical films, solar backsheet films, etc.
In general, under the background of the national and local government policies vigorously promoting “plastic restriction”, the plastics industry needs to upgrade through innovation and make the next layout around the implementation strategies of green, ecological, low-carbon, recycling, etc., and transform the pure processing type into Only by extending operations to the entire industrial chain with high technical content and high added value can we promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of plastics-related enterprises and further enhance the competitiveness of my country’s plastic products industry in domestic and foreign markets.