Ten years of plastic restrictions have been mixed.

Near the afternoon, beijing Chaoyang District Jintai Road, a supermarket cash register, customers are not many. With five whites, two buns of coriander and two buns in her shopping basket, Aunt Wang, 62, did not buy plastic shopping bags from supermarkets like other customers, but took a cloth bag out of her pocket. She said the bag was longer than a plastic bag and had been used for years.
end of December 2007, the Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Restrictions on the Production and Sale of Plastic Shopping Bags was issued. Over the past decade, the notice, known to the public as the Plastic Limit Order, has been effective in restricting and reducing the use of plastic bags. However, over time, especially with the rapid development of takeaway, courier and other industries in recent years, the "plastic limit order" effect gradually weakened.
the beginning of November this year, the relevant officials of the National Development and Reform Commission said that they were ready to work with relevant departments to study and adjust the "plastic restriction order", the State Post Office and other 10 departments also jointly issued a paper, focusing on promoting the express industry green packaging. Experts say this means that the "plastic restriction order" will usher in a new era of code implementation. But in order for the "plastic limit order" to achieve the desired effect, it needs policy guidance, consumption consciousness, alternative research and development and production supply of multi-pronged, comprehensive management.
1. The reduction in consumption expected by problem overlays
The Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Restricting the Production and Sale of Plastic Shopping Bags stipulates that "from June 1, 2008, the production, sale and use of plastic shopping bags with a thickness of less than 0.025 mm will be prohibited nationwide". "Since June 1, 2008, all supermarkets, shopping malls, fairs and other retail outlets to implement a paid use of plastic shopping bags system, will not be free of charge plastic shopping bags." How has the Plastic Limit Order been enforced in the past 10 years?
reporters in Chaoyang District, Beijing, a number of supermarket visits found that almost every supermarket in the cash register are hung with different models of plastic bags, these plastic bags small size each 0.2 yuan, large 0.3 yuan each. Since hand-teared food bags in food shopping areas are largely free of charge, almost every customer's basket contains five or six such bags.
most large supermarkets provide plastic bags for high-density polyethylene plastic bags, printed with "QS" logo, national standard number, thickness, manufacturers and other information. The bag also reads: "To protect the environment, plastic shopping bags are encouraged to be used multiple times; Staff said the plastic bag was non-toxic and tasteless and could be used to eat food.
many consumers, especially the elderly, bring their own plastic bags or eco-friendly shopping bags, and people's awareness of environmental protection is gradually increasing," he said. The cashier at a large supermarket chain near China Civil Aviation General Hospital says she conducts tens of thousands of transactions a day, with a third of customers buying plastic bags.
data released last year by the National Development and Reform Commission show that since the implementation of the "plastic restriction order", the use of plastic bags in supermarkets and shopping malls has generally decreased by more than two-thirds, a cumulative reduction of about 1.4 million tons of plastic bags, equivalent to saving 8.4 million tons of oil.
, some farmers' markets, commodity retail outlets, ultra-thin plastic bags in the wild circulation problems still exist. At a farmers' market near Da Huangzhuang Bridge in Chaoyang District, Beijing, almost all operators offer free plastic bags. These plastic bags, there is no manufacturer and production specifications mark, thickness is also significantly lower than 0.025 mm "plastic limit order" requirements. On the side of the road, because some fruit vendors offer free plastic bags that are too thin, many customers ask for more than a few bags when they buy things.
, with the rise of "Internet Plus", the field of couriers and takeaways has gradually become the use of plastic bags "big households." Statistics show that China's express delivery industry last year, plastic bag use of about 14.7 billion. This year, The Double 11 is expected to have 1.5 billion packages, most of them containing indesogradable plastic bags.
Addition, takeaway APP "hungry" recently released large takeaway data show that China's takeaway market users reached 600 million, in 2016 online takeaway users spend more than 3 times a week accounted for 63.3 percent. According to this figure, more than 300 million takeaways will be delivered each week, resulting in 300 million plastic bags if calculated at 1 plastic bag per takeaway. If these plastic bag waste can not be effectively treated, it will be a serious ecological pollution.
, the "plastic restriction order" has indeed played a role in raising consumer awareness of environmental protection, and in the implementation of the early stage of the use of plastic bags greatly reduced. However, in recent years, because the ultra-thin plastic bags wanton circulation of the old problems have not been resolved, express delivery, takeaway and other fields have become a new blind spot for plastic bag supervision, resulting in the "plastic restriction order" implementation effect rebounded.
2, "grey area" impact "plastic limit" effect
In order to cooperate with the "plastic limit order" landing, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce in 2008 jointly issued the "commodity retail places plastic shopping bags paid use management measures", which to provide consumers with free or disguised plastic bags and other acts to develop relevant penalties, but the actual effect is not satisfactory.
, law enforcement departments difficult to obtain evidence, difficult to enforce penalties is an important reason. Although the market and quality supervision bureaus in many places regularly inspect plastic bag manufacturers and punish violations, some "black workshops" that produce ultra-thin plastic bags without registration are very hidden and make it difficult to regulate the source. At the same time, the lack of continuity of law enforcement inspections in some places has led many farmers' markets and individual merchants to continue to use ultra-thin plastic bags.
other hand, the "plastic restriction order" itself has its limitations, creating a lot of "grey areas". As fewer and fewer customers bring their own shopping bags, most customers will buy plastic bags directly for the convenience of the map, supermarkets become the biggest beneficiaries, so that the "plastic restriction order" has been transformed into "selling plastic order" suspicion.
addition, for express delivery, online or offline shopping in recent years using plastic bag packaging, "plastic restriction order" is not clearly defined, giving plastic bags continue to flood the opportunity. "There are three key problems in express packaging, one is plastic bags, woven bags, transparent tape non-degradable; Express packaging is mostly re-manufactured with secondary materials, after recycling there is no re-production and re-manufacturing value. The vast majority of packaging, like other waste, is directly landfilled or incinerated, and some express packaging with reuse value is contaminated, which makes it difficult to recycle from large quantities of waste. Zhu Lei, vice president of Qingdao Research Institute of Beijing Printing Institute, said.
, biodegradable materials such as plastic bags, environmentally friendly shopping bags and other high costs, limiting its large-scale promotion. Generally speaking, the cost of biodegradable plastic bags is 2 to 3 times that of traditional plastic bags, the current national production of bio-based plastics and degradable plastics is only a hundred thousand tons, and the annual output of traditional plastics 10 million tons compared to the gap is obvious.
consumers on the "plastic restriction order" unknown or subjective still save the concept of trouble, but also caused the "plastic limit order" to implement an important reason. In a large supermarket chain located near the Civil Aviation General Hospital, the reporter randomly interviewed 10 customers who were shopping, 9 of whom agreed that "plastic bags will cause white pollution", but only 2 people brought their own plastic bags, and many customers said that "often accept shops, takeaways, couriers and other free ultra-thin plastic bags."
experts say it is difficult to achieve an environmental vision through high-cost abstract ethical responsibilities in the absence of low-cost environmental alternatives.
3, plus code "plastic limit order" focus on implementation
at the 30th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress held on November 2, the National Development and Reform Commission, the main Lifeng said, ready to work with relevant departments to adjust the "plastic limit order", research and development in e-commerce, courier, take the lead in the sale of plastic packaging in the relevant implementation plan to limit a series of non-degradable plastic packaging, while urging local cities to strengthen implementation. In addition, will promote new materials, collection, screening technology mature, industrial base is relatively perfect recyclable, biodegradable packaging materials, in mature conditions in the field and industry to promote the use.
10 departments, such as the State Post Office, also jointly issued a paper in early November to promote green packaging in the express delivery industry, proposing that by 2020, the proportion of degradable green packaging materials applications to 50%. This means that the "plastic limit order" will usher in a new era of code implementation.
However, in order to effectively implement the code, it is urgent for the relevant departments to issue rules, clear regulators, producers, sellers, consumers and other aspects of the responsibility and obligations to change the "plastic restriction order" is currently lawless, law enforcement is not strict. "A rule without rules is like a tiger without teeth, it looks great, but it doesn't really work." Huang Liling, a lawyer at Zhongying Law Firm in Beijing, said.
, on the one hand, to "block", from the source to contain. Since the "plastic restriction order" was originally implemented by the Government, it cannot be achieved entirely on the self-consciousness of businesses. Environmental protection, quality supervision, industry and commerce departments must be in the plastic bag production approval, monitoring, law enforcement links in the hard work, catch implementation, not to allow illegal products into the market.
January 1, 2015, Jilin Province began to prohibit the production, sale, provision of disposable non-degradable plastic shopping bags, plastic tableware, becoming the country's first comprehensive "no plastic" province. At present, Changchun City's large supermarkets, shopping malls have basically completed the replacement of environmentally friendly plastic bags to traditional plastic bags. Now that there is a feasible pilot, it is necessary to increase the "plastic restriction order" to a "plastic prohibition order" through legislation throughout the country, and how to solve the problems such as the high cost of alternatives and insufficient regulatory power needs to be fully studied.
on the other hand, we should "dredging" and improve the design of the whole chain system for the sale, use and recycling of plastic bags. Through government subsidies, consumers who use eco-friendly bags can be given certain incentives to encourage more people to develop the habit of carrying "bags" with them. At the same time can refer to the experience of overseas countries, the appropriate price of plastic bags, we "pull bags" hands may stop.
addition, environmental bags as substitutes are mostly expensive and bulky. If we can use new materials such as biodegradation to enhance the "green content" of plastic bags and make them affordable and portable, I believe many people will be happy to practice their environmental responsibilities.
sharing mode has put forward a new way of thinking to solve this problem. During this year's "Double 11" period, there were reusable shared courier boxes that both addressed user needs and encouraged consumers to reduce the frequency with which plastic bags were used.
, whether blocked or unblocked, the most critical bump is a shift in public awareness of environmental protection. Ireland, for example, which has been the world's most successful "plastic limit", has focused on civic awareness-raising in addition to raising the price of plastic bags through taxation. The government has long carried out publicity and education in schools, communities, etc., to distribute environmental brochures to consumers, environmentally friendly shopping bags, etc. , and now the whole of Ireland has formed an atmosphere of not accepting and not welcoming plastic bags.
value of the 'plastic limit order' is to send a message to society as a whole that resources are valuable and that there is a cost to using them." Experts said that only by guiding most consumers to form a sense of resource price, so that consumers from the ideological "plastic limit", in order to promote people to actively participate in the "plastic limit", and ultimately achieve the goal of protecting resources, protecting the environment.
Zhang Yiqi Peng, a reporter for the overseas edition of the People's Daily.