On July 10, 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), and seven other departments jointly published the Notice on Making Solid Progress in Treatment of Plastic Pollution [1]. This document is aimed at ensuring the efforts to achieve the goal of restricting or prohibiting the production, sale and use of certain plastics in pilot areas and sectors by the end of 2020.
Following the publication of the Notice on Further Enhancing Treatment of Plastic Pollution [2] in January 2020, government authorities at both central and local levels have geared up to tackle plastic pollution by focusing on the three major goals it laid out:
l By the end of 2020, the production, sale and use of certain plastics will be restricted and prohibited in pilot areas and sectors.
l By 2022, the consumption of disposable plastic products will significantly drop, and their alternatives will be used at a larger scale.
l By 2025, China will establish a management system for the production, circulation, consumption, recycling and disposal of plastic products, make great progress in developing alternative materials, significantly decrease plastic wastes in landfills of key cities, and effectively control plastic pollution.
According to the July Notice, provincial-level action plans should be introduced before mid-August this year to further break down the tasks. Provincial capitals, municipalities with independent planning status and cities at or above the prefecture level should devise feasible and effective measures in view of their actual conditions, so as to achieve the 2020 goal as scheduled.
Relevant measures should be implemented in a solid and meticulous manner in key areas, such as the work to ban the production and sale of plastic bags less than 0.025mm thick, polyethylene agricultural films less than 0.01mm thick, disposable foam plastic tableware and plastic swabs. Meanwhile, local authorities are required to launch law enforcement inspections on shopping malls, supermarkets, peddlers’ markets, catering industry, etc. before end-August.
Along with the Notice, a document was released to further specify the scope and definition of some regulated items included in the 2020 goal. It should be noted that in the event of any emergency during the period of pandemic containment, disposable plastics used for daily necessity supplies can be exempt from the prohibitive or restrictive measures. The document will be dynamically adjusted in light of the implementation of relevant measures in reality.
