China's Crackdown on Plastics to Hit Polluting E-Commerce Sector
Zhang Ke
DATE:  Jan 20 2020
/ SOURCE:  yicai
China's Crackdown on Plastics to Hit Polluting E-Commerce Sector China's Crackdown on Plastics to Hit Polluting E-Commerce Sector

(Yicai Global) Jan. 20 -- A move by the Chinese government to cut pollution caused by certain plastics is likely to affect the e-commerce, express and food delivery sectors especially hard.

China will start to ban the production and sale of ultra-thin plastic shopping bags and other plastic products from this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said in a joint statement yesterday.

At 100 million tons a year, the country consumes about a quarter of the world's plastic, according to public records. That's about 82 kilograms per person. Online shoppers took delivery of 14.3 billion boxes, 430 billion meters of tape, and 24.5 billion plastic bags in 2018, while the ranks of food-delivery eaters topped 400 million last year, with take-away packaging notoriously difficult to recycle.

The country will also prohibit plastic products made from medical waste and bar the import of plastic refuse, while slashing use of single-use plastics and promote alternatives by the end of 2022, the ministries added.

Beijing issued a rule in June 2008 forbidding retail outlets from providing plastic shopping bags for free, but allowing them for a fee.

The nation will develop and promote green and environmentally friendly plastic products, explore new models of recycling regulation and set up a basic system for the production, distribution, use and recycling to lessen the volume of plastic waste landfilled in cities by 2025, the ministries said.

China also has more than 100,000 plastic processing firms, with about 4 million employees.

Editor: Ben Armour

Follow Yicai Global on
Keywords:   plastic products