Plastic recycling is difficult: how to deal with takeaway waste
Anji County, Zhejiang Province has promoted the "garbage does not fall to the ground" model in county villages, implementing fixed-point garbage delivery and regular collection, and the people’s awareness of garbage classification and environmental protection has been significantly improved. The picture shows villagers (right) in Melianwu Village, Lingfeng Street, Anji County, preparing to put domestic garbage into mobile garbage collection trucks on August 3. Xinhua News Agency reporter, photo by Weng Xinyang
In Lancuiyuan Residential Area, Peninsula Community, Jinggang Town, Shushan District, Hefei City, Anhui Province, each household has its own "smart QR code card". When dumping garbage, residents scan the "smart QR code card" to select recyclable garbage (including paper, plastic, etc.), kitchen waste and toxic hazardous waste, and the corresponding box door automatically opens. Residents can get corresponding points and redeem daily necessities. The picture shows residents dropping garbage according to classification on July 16. Photo by Ge Yinian (People’s Vision)
At noon, Xiaoxia, a media person working in Beijing’s Haidian district, finished lunch. Since the company does not have a cafeteria, he and his colleagues usually use their mobile phones to order takeout for lunch. After a meal, Xiaoxia counted, rice, main course, side dishes, soup… One person’s meal cost four plastic lunch boxes. In the trash can in the company corridor, the takeaway lunch boxes have piled up into hills.
The rapid growth of the online takeaway industry has greatly facilitated people’s eating and filling their stomachs, but it has also created more waste to a certain extent. And plastic lunch boxes go straight to the garbage dump, which brings hidden dangers to the environment.
How to reduce the number of plastic lunch boxes piled up higher and higher? How to make the takeaway industry achieve green development? This is a difficult problem that requires multiple measures.
① Plastic lunch boxes are widely used
How popular is takeout? According to data released by Internet takeout platforms such as Meituan Takeaway, Ele.me, and Baidu Takeaway, the daily order volume of the three takeout platforms is about 20 million orders nationwide. Due to the fast delivery, rich variety and convenient payment, many foreigners in China have commented that in addition to "high-speed rail, Alipay, shared bicycles, and online shopping", Chinese takeout should also be classified as the "New Four Great Inventions".
The outbreak of takeaway business has caused the overuse of lunch boxes. An environmental group studied and analyzed 100 takeaway orders and found that an average of 3.27 disposable plastic lunch boxes/cups were consumed per order. This means that there are currently more than 60 million plastic lunch boxes used every day on China’s Internet food ordering platforms.
In fact, not only lunch boxes, but also plastic bags, plastic tableware, and plastic outer packaging used for takeaway food delivery belong to plastic waste. The main component of ordinary plastic lunch boxes and tableware is polypropylene, and the main component of plastic bags is polyethylene, which is non-degradable ordinary plastic. It is reported that the plastic bags used by takeaway platforms can cover 420,000 square meters every day, and can cover a West Lake in about 15 days.
For many catering companies, the use of plastic lunch boxes is also a helpless move. Some industry insiders say that Chinese food contains more soup and grease, and it is more suitable to use plastic lunch boxes. Although some catering companies currently use cartons and other packaging, most degradable lunch boxes are not suitable for Chinese food. They are easy to seep water and oil, making rice sticky and difficult to be accepted by consumers. In addition, the cost of lunch boxes is also a consideration for catering companies. Some people in charge of catering companies say that takeaway packaging accounts for about 2% of the total cost.
In fact, the plastic lunch boxes currently used for takeaway are not "useless". A reporter’s investigation found that most plastic lunch boxes are printed with recyclable labels, which can be recycled through the process of garbage recycling. But the reality is that most consumers throw away the lunch box directly after using it. Even if there are leftovers in the lunch box, most of them are "covered". Plastic waste and kitchen waste "mix and match", which brings a lot of trouble to the recycling of takeaway waste.
② Plastic recycling channels are not smooth
Even if it enters the garbage recycling process, the recycling value of takeaway lunch boxes is not high. According to industry insiders, the price of plastic recycling is low and the cost of recycling is high. Recyclers generally do not want to pick up takeaway lunch boxes full of oil stains. Even if they are picked up, it will take time and effort to clean them. Therefore, plastic lunch boxes are not popular in the recycling market. Whether it is garbage recycling companies or the city’s "scavengers", they are "uninterested" in recycling plastic products.
At the same time, China has not yet formed a complete recycling system. Plastic lunch boxes, as low-value-added recyclables, are difficult to enter the recycling channel of renewable resources. Even if consumers take the initiative to sort plastic waste, due to the incomplete recycling system, sanitation trucks may also mix all kinds of waste away when transporting garbage.
Since it is difficult to recycle, plastic lunch boxes can only be "mixed" into municipal solid waste, enter the waste treatment system, and eventually be incinerated or landfilled as ordinary waste. However, if different plastic components are incinerated together, it is easy to produce air pollution; and before landfill, large plastic waste is generally simply incinerated, which will generate a lot of exhaust emissions. Therefore, allowing plastic lunch boxes to enter the waste treatment system is by no means a cure.
In fact, the "white pollution" caused by plastic products is not unique to China. Countries around the world also face the same problem. If there is a relatively sound waste sorting system, plastic lunch boxes and other products can be effectively recycled through recycling channels. But data show that only 14% of plastic packaging in the world is currently recycled.
In terms of the cost of recycling lunch boxes, there are also experiences and lessons worth learning. For example, in Japan, the cost of recycling lunch boxes is borne by consumers; in Europe and the United States, the processing fee is borne by the manufacturer. In China, Shanghai implemented the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Single-use Plastic Lunch Boxes" in June 2000, and the management department charged the manufacturer of single-use plastic lunch boxes 3 cents per lunch box as a recycling fee. However, the implementation of this system was not smooth and was abolished in May 2014.
③ Strengthen classification, recycling and treatment
Experts said that to solve the problem of takeaway waste, we should start from the source and downstream ends. It is necessary to take measures to reduce the generation of takeaway waste, and to strengthen the professional recycling of takeaway waste. It is necessary to vigorously improve the efficiency of using and processing "stock waste", and strictly control the generation and scale of "incremental waste".
Strengthening classification and recycling and strengthening resource treatment are the main countermeasures to solve the problem of takeaway waste. In March this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the "Implementation Plan for the Domestic Waste Classification System", requiring 46 cities across the country to implement mandatory classification of domestic waste first, and the recycling rate of domestic waste will reach more than 35% by the end of 2020.
In this regard, experts say that because the identification of takeaway waste is relatively simple, it can be used as a breakthrough to promote waste classification management. For example, in areas where students and office workers are relatively concentrated, targeted takeaway waste sorting and recycling will be carried out. After the initial implementation of classification and collection, professional companies will be designated for unified recycling.
Sheng Min, secretary-general of the recycled plastics branch of the China Renewable Resources Recycling Association, said that there is currently no corresponding subsidy mechanism for the recycling of waste plastics and other renewable resources in China. He said that there are two ways to learn from, one is the European model, through the government to adopt mandatory policies to subsidize the recycling of renewable resources; the other is the Japanese model, through the cultivation of national quality, do a good job of waste sorting at the source.
Song Guojun, a professor at the School of Environment of Renmin University of China, believes that the mandatory source classification policy should be firmly implemented, following the polluter pays principle, implementing the extended producer responsibility system, incentivizing polluters to reduce waste output, and at the same time using resource recycling revenue to make up for the social cost of waste management.
In response to the classification and recycling of low value-added recyclables such as plastics, some cities in China have also formulated some measures, such as establishing funds to issue subsidies and punishing those who violate the rules. Some industry insiders pointed out that in the specific implementation, it is also necessary to continue to explore and solve the problems of pre-subsidy in the industrial chain, uncertain punishment targets, high statistical supervision costs of recyclables, and excessive investment.
④ Innovative takeaway packaging methods
From the source of takeaway waste, it is necessary to strengthen the regulation and supervision of takeaway enterprises to reduce takeaway waste. Among them, the most important idea is to seek innovation in takeaway delivery packaging and methods.
Experts suggest that relevant companies can subsidize their scientific and technological research and development, reduce taxes on degradable products, and block "white pollution" at the source, so that the public can obtain more convenient and environmentally friendly alternative products.
At present, some catering companies have used degradable materials such as pulp lunch boxes and sugarcane fiber plates, but the cost of such lunch boxes is often higher than that of plastic lunch boxes, so it will take time for them to be fully popularized.
In June this year, Meituan Takeaway, the China Cuisine Association, and the China Environmental Protection Foundation jointly launched the "Green Takeaway Industry Convention (Green Ten Articles) " with dozens of catering takeaway brands, which proposes "promoting the use of green tableware" and other content, and issued "hero posts" to the supply chain to find healthy and safe green tableware for small and micro enterprises in the catering industry. There are also takeaway platforms that are cooperating with scientific research institutions to develop degradable and environmentally friendly lunch boxes.
Experts suggest that binding regulations should be made on the reduction and recycling of takeaway packaging materials, and in accordance with the principle of "whoever pollutes will control", garbage disposal fees should be added to takeaway, and merchants, platforms and consumers should pay for the recycling of takeaway garbage.
Some people also pointed out that it is possible to follow the international garbage recycling deposit system and innovate recycling channels. Consumers pay part of the deposit to the platform when purchasing takeaway food, and after the meal is completed, the takeaway lunch box will be sent to the self-service recycling machine or manual recycling point. After the platform confirms, the deposit will be returned to the consumer, so as to promote consumers to establish a healthy and good consumption concept and garbage recycling awareness.