Culture 3 min read

China Introduces Measure to Cut Single-Use Plastics

photka / Shutterstock.com

photka / Shutterstock.com

Earlier in the month, the Chinese government announced a five-year plan to ban single-use plastics from the entire country.

Plastic pollution is a severe threat to the planet.

Every year, almost 8 million tons of single-use plastics and about 700,000 tons of abandoned endangers marine life. Sharks, fishes, and whales can become entangled in the net, or worse; they could ingest the plastic and die.

A 2017 study revealed that 90 percent of single-use plastic that pollutes the oceans come from 10 rivers. And six of these rivers are in China.

Now, the Chinese government is making a move to clean up the country’s plastic pollution.

In an explanation that accompanied the new guideline, the environment ministry and China’s chief industrial planning agency wrote:

“Consumption of plastic products, especially single-use items, has been consistently rising. There needs to be stronger comprehensive planning and a systematic rollout to clean up plastic pollution.”

China’s previous efforts to reduce the use of plastic bag was not successful. However, the government says that it’s now taking a more serious and systematic approach to the issue.

 

New Measures to Ban Single-Use Plastics in China

On Sunday, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a new policy that the country will implement for the next five years.

The new guideline bans the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags in major cities before the end of 2020.

By the end of 2022, other sources of plastic bags will no longer be allowed in Beijing, Shanghai, and other wealthy provinces. Eventually, the rule will extend to the rest of the world by late 2025.

Also, restaurants and food vendors across the nation should stop using disposable foam plastics before the end of the year. It includes the use of straws that are made from non-biodegradable plastics.

In 2018, Chinese courier services used almost 25 billion plastic bags for delivery. Now the government is cracking down on that.

The package delivery sector can no longer use non-biodegradable plastic packaging, tape, and single-use sacks woven from plastic. While the ban will begin in 2022 with Beijing, Shanghai, and other wealthy provinces, it’ll extend to the rest of the nation by late 2025.

Recently, China has been campaigning against the use of plastics. In 2017, the country banned the import of plastic waste, after almost 40 years of being the world’s recycling bin.

Meanwhile, the United States still leads the rest of the world in per capita plastic waste creation.

Read More: Amsterdam Uses Air Bubble Barrier to Tackle Plastic Waste

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Sumbo Bello

Sumbo Bello is a creative writer who enjoys creating data-driven content for news sites. In his spare time, he plays basketball and listens to Coldplay.

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