Environmental protection series: review of new policies on plastic restriction and reuse of waste plastics

With the rapid development of social economy, the gradual improvement of various policies is the general trend. Now, in the twinkling of an eye, the relevant government departments have introduced new regulations and implemented them. Among them, what are the new policies and regulations that will have an important impact on the development of the plastic industry and related industries in 2018? Next, we will show you one by one, hoping that enterprises and industry people can seize the favorable opportunity of policies when carrying out production and trading activities, and prevent them from stepping on minefields by mistake.

The website of national development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has opened a special column "I give advice and suggestions for the prevention and control of plastic waste pollution", inviting people from all walks of life to put forward opinions and suggestions on the management requirements of plastic products in different fields from January 5 to January 31, 2028. This is a further measure taken at the national level to prevent and control "white pollution" since the implementation of the notice of the general office of the State Council on restricting the production and sale of plastic shopping bags in 2008.

The scope of soliciting opinions includes:

1、 Suggestions on consumption scenarios, operation procedures and commodity categories that restrict or prohibit the use of plastic products;

2、 Suggestions on the promotion and application of alternative products for existing mature alternatives;

3、 Suggestions on the situation that the use of plastic products needs to be standardized and managed without the conditions of prohibition or substitution;

4、 Other opinions and suggestions on the prevention and control of plastic waste pollution.

Ten years after the "plastic restriction order" was issued, the effectiveness of China's treatment of "white pollution" has aroused heated discussion again. In fact, after nearly 10 years of implementation, "plastic restriction order" has achieved mixed results. Nowadays, the new format requires that the "plastic limit order" should keep pace with the times and constantly adjust. Industry insiders pointed out that the adjustment of the "plastic restriction order" is not simply to expand its scope of application, but to enrich the governance means and enhance the governance capacity on the basis of drawing experience and lessons, so as to finally realize the original intention of "white restriction".

2. The introduction of "environmental protection tax" will increase the cost of enterprises, but it will be good in the long run

From January 1, 2018, China's environmental protection tax law was officially implemented. According to the provisions, environmental protection tax shall be collected from enterprises, institutions and other operators that directly discharge taxable pollutants to the environment. The tax items of environmental protection tax include: air pollutants, water pollutants, fixed waste and noise. According to the provisions of the environmental protection tax law, the tax rate of taxable air pollutants ranges from 1.2 yuan to 12 yuan per pollution equivalent and that of water pollutants ranges from 1.4 yuan to 14 yuan per pollution equivalent.

The "fee to tax" marks the arrival of a new mode of economic growth in China. The collection of environmental protection tax will increase the production cost of enterprises in the short term, but in the long run, only by adopting more advanced technology and cleaner production process can the cost of environmental protection tax be reduced, and the product price has a more competitive advantage.

3. Clean up and investigation of fixed pollution sources in 2018

On January 17, 2018, the Ministry of environmental protection issued the "measures for the administration of pollutant discharge permits (for Trial Implementation)", which requires that enterprises that do not meet the conditions for issuing permits shall not discharge pollutants, and enterprises must self certify and abide by the law, thus increasing the difficulty of counterfeiting. At the same time, the Ministry of environmental protection is refining the relevant management requirements of pollutant discharge permit, and will achieve full coverage of all types of pollutants in the future. In addition, the management measures emphasize technical support in the implementation and supervision, and make it clear that the competent environmental protection department can organize or entrust technical institutions to provide technical support for emission permit management by means of government purchasing services.

The environmental protection tax law and the new emission permits are mainly for environmental protection. As a big polluter, plastics and related industries have an eye-catching figure in waste gas, waste water and solid waste. With the implementation of the two laws, the environmental protection requirements for the enterprises in the plastic industry will be more stringent. The scattered pollution enterprises may be further banned, and the production and marketing level of the waste plastic industry may further decline in 2018.

In order to promote the construction of ecological civilization, protect and improve China's ecological environment, and reduce pollution, relevant plastic enterprises can discharge taxable pollutants to legally established places for centralized sewage treatment and domestic waste treatment, or establish facilities and places to treat or store taxable pollutants according to national and local environmental protection standards.

4. "Ecological environment damage compensation system" will be tried out nationwide in 2018. Whoever damages will be compensated

On December 17, 2017, the general office of the CPC Central Committee and the general office of the State Council issued the reform plan for the eco-environmental damage compensation system, announcing that the eco-environmental damage compensation system will be tried out nationwide from January 1, 2018. According to the plan, any unit or individual that violates laws and regulations and causes damage to the ecological environment shall be liable for compensation for the damage to the ecological environment.

On the basis of the basic framework of the pilot scheme, some contents of the scheme are supplemented and improved: first, the scope of compensation right holders is expanded from the provincial government to the municipal government to improve the efficiency of compensation work; second, the local government is required to refine the specific situation of starting compensation for ecological environment damage and clarify the standard of starting compensation work; third, the local government is required to expand the scope of compensation right holders from the provincial government to the municipal government to improve the efficiency of compensation work; The third is to improve the consultation mechanism, stipulate the "pre consultation" procedure, and make it clear that the compensation agreement reached through consultation can be applied to the people's court for judicial confirmation in accordance with the civil procedure law, so as to give the compensation agreement enforcement effect.

5. Implementation of the new national standard of polyethylene blown agricultural floor covering film

The mandatory national standard "polyethylene blown agricultural ground covering film" was published in December 2017, aiming to reduce the "white pollution" of farmland and improve the quality of soil environment. The national standard will be implemented on May 1, 2018.

The aim of this revision is to standardize the production, guide the use, improve the quality, and promote the recovery. The thickness and mechanical properties of plastic film are systematically considered, and the thickness requirements are appropriately increased. Considering the recyclability of agricultural plastic film, farmers' affordability and resource conservation, and referring to the relevant international and foreign standards, the minimum thickness of plastic film was increased from 0.008mm to 0.010mm. At the same time, according to the range of film thickness, the mechanical property index is modified to prevent enterprises from adding too much recycled materials to improve the thickness and reduce the product quality and recyclability. In addition, the standard also modified the artificial climate aging performance and the corresponding test methods. The new national standard will promote the use of agricultural plastic film with higher thickness and better performance, which is conducive to the recycling of agricultural plastic film.

6. "Waste plastics comprehensive utilization industry standard conditions" may lead to industry reshuffle

The Ministry of industry and information technology released the "standard conditions for the comprehensive utilization of waste plastics industry", which defined the threshold of waste plastics treatment capacity for the three key types of enterprises newly built and built in the industry. The specification came into effect on January 1, 2018, and the Interim Measures for the administration of the announcement of the standard conditions of waste plastics comprehensive utilization industry came into effect at the same time. Industry insiders said that the new industry norms may bring about the reshuffle effect of the whole industry.

As an industry with high threshold of environmental protection requirements, the specification specifies "comprehensive utilization of resources and energy consumption". In addition, it is worth noting that the thermoplastic waste plastic materials involved do not include waste plastic packaging materials contaminated by dangerous chemicals, pesticides, disposable medical plastic products and other plastics, and special engineering plastics such as fluoroplastics.

According to people in the industry, the introduction of the "standard conditions" will help leading enterprises to invest in this field, because a large number of small workshops not only pollute the environment, but also hinder the further development of the industry. For the whole industry, a number of enterprises with small scale and weak technical force will bear the brunt and be ordered to rectify. It is predicted that the application market of waste plastics in China will reach more than 100 billion yuan in the future.

It is not difficult to find that most of the above documents issued by the state are aimed at protecting the ecological environment, protecting people's lives and health, and protecting the living environment of animals and plants. At present, a number of policies on "environmental protection" have been gradually implemented. In the transition period, the major enterprises will face pain, but the upgraded enterprises will enjoy all kinds of environmental protection dividends. Therefore, this year, the relevant enterprises need to actively adapt to the initiative of reform, and timely adjust according to the policy changes, pay attention to environmental protection, standardize production, and make better use of the favorable policies to achieve smooth transformation.