Recently, China has decided to gradually abolish the use of single-use plastic. This decision was reached by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) at the beginning of 2020. The reason why they would make this decision is quite simple: China has contributed to worldwide pollution much more than other countries.
The Origin of the Decision
China and NDRC have chosen to decrease the use of plastic in order to totally abandon it in 2025. The decision has multiple origins. First, since the last decade of the 20th century China has constantly increased its import of plastic, and after almost 30 years they claim to have reached a worrying peak. A solution had to be found. Secondly, in 2018, China produced 211 million tons of waste, the greatest amount of waste produced worldwide, on par with the US.
According to table 1, it can be seen during this period they have almost reached 12 billion US dollars’ worth of waste imported and exported. This means that not only does China have a lot of waste to dispose of, but also that because of their waste mismanagement they have strongly contributed to the worsening pollution situation. Furthermore, in 2017 they collected more than 215 tons of urban waste without revealing how much of this is recycling. Lastly, in 2018 they decided to stop the import of plastic. This importing of plastic began in 1992, mostly from the USA, Germany and Japan. During this extended period, they imported more than 116 million tons of plastic.
Table 1, plastic’s import-export data
How has China decided to manage the situation?
According to some sources, China will phase out the use of disposable plastic starting with the bigger cities, and then following with the smaller ones. By the end of 2020, Shanghai and Beijing
will abandon single-use plastic, starting with plastic bags and other similar items. By 2022 all the other cities will abandon these. Following this procedure and substituting plastic materials with long-lasting ones, China claims that it will be more eco-friendly before 2025.
This is not the first time that Beijing has tried to reduce the use of single-use plastic. In fact, even in 2008, they were asking people not to sell things packed in disposable plastic, but to use multi use plastic. This demonstrates that China has already tried to improve the way they use plastic, but they were not insistent enough. Now that the situation is becoming critical and they have almost reached a point of no return, they are acting properly.
Some big companies, such as McDonald’s and Hey Tea, have already started to act in compliance with the new regulations. Hey Tea, for example, has recently substituted its plastic straws with paper straws, and McDonald’s has directly banned plastic straws from cities like Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing.
More recently, thanks to the Conference of the Parties (COP) that took place this year, it will not be possible anymore for China to export its waste abroad, unless other parties agree. This should limit the senseless trade of waste and rubbish that is destroying the environment.
What can we expect?
The data reported varies, but it all suggests the same thing: China is changing fast. It is changing its behavior, its way of relating to other countries, and its way of relating to the whole world. People who intend to invest in China should carefully remember the following. It is likely that China will soon find a way to substitute for plastic something more ecologic and that they will take advantage of their discovery to become stronger and more competitive than before. They are already investing a lot of money in innovation; the field of ecology and sustainability will possibly
be their next focus. People should keep in mind that the era of plastic as a commodity will soon end and, if they desire to invest in China, they have better not to do with products made with plastic.