"One-off polystyrene foamed plastic tableware (hereinafter referred to as" one-off foamed tableware ") is only 5 - 8 grams of material, less energy consumption and material consumption than other products of the same kind, more green and low carbon, and can be recycled and recycled after use, in line with the concept of recycling economy. Ma Zhanfeng, Secretary General of China Plastics Processing Industry Association, said in an interview with our newspaper recently.
People can not help asking: do disposable foam cutlery have been eliminated by the state?
Since the end of the 90s of the last century, China has managed and eliminated disposable foamed tableware throughout the country and classified it as an elimination item in the industrial structure adjustment directories (2005 Edition), and not in the revised directories of industrial structure adjustment (2011 Edition), which was implemented since June 1, 2011. In order to make adjustments, a reporter said at the national development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in Beijing on the policy interpretation of the light industry part of the 2011 edition of the catalogue of industrial structure adjustment directories, which wrote: disposable foamed tableware will be deleted from the elimination catalogue.
Doubts about disposable foam tableware mainly come from two major problems: quality safety and environmental protection. Ma Zhanfeng stressed that one time foamed plastic tableware is a green product. Its main material is polystyrene. It is a material that can be contacted with food. It has the characteristics of light quality, innocuity, low price and so on. Its possession rate in the disposable dining box market is up to 70%.
However, when revising the 2005 edition of the catalogue, there are two different opinions on the issue of the disposable foam tableware. One party that advocates the deletion of the item from the elimination class believes that the disposable foamed tableware is innocuous and harmless, can be recycled and reproduced by other products, save oil resources, low production cost, and the developed countries such as Europe and the United States and Japan. In the high temperature conditions, the tableware will be separated from the toxic substances and is harmful to the human body. The recovery mechanism in China is not yet perfect, and it is easy to cause "white pollution". Some illegal production enterprises use the recycled materials to produce the finished products, which will cause the hidden danger of the product quality and safety.
The national development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has commissioned a toxic experiment on one-off foamed tableware according to the national standards of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The results showed that the disposable foamed tableware could meet the requirements of National Standard for Hygiene of Polystyrene Resin for Food Packaging.
"At present, the" three Fen project ", which is implemented in Shanghai, is to collect 3 cents per meal box to the manufacturer for subsidies and pollution control and so on. It has properly solved the environmental protection problem of disposable foamed tableware. This experience is worth promoting. Ma Zhanfeng said.
According to the introduction, the specific allocation of 3 cents is: 1 points 5 mm to pick up food boxes, 5 per cent of the money to subsidize transport costs, 5 per cent of the money returned to the four recycling center, 5 per cent to the disposal factory to do subsidies. Recycling is coordinated by the Shanghai waste management office and sent to the factory for treatment. It is reported that enterprises in Zhejiang and Jiangsu are also expected to be included in the recovery system.
Can this push off the ban on disposable foamed tableware?
Based on the principles of scientific and reasonable decision-making, the national development and Reform Commission (NDRC), on the basis of listening to the different opinions and research of the parties concerned, showed the basic views on the four points of disposable foamed tableware in the interpretation of the 2011 edition of the light industrial part: first, according to the national standard [GB9692] - 1988), hygienic standard of polystyrene molding products for food packaging (GB9689-1988) production of disposable foamed tableware reasonable use of no safety problems. Two is the disposable foamed tableware can be recycled and reused, the use of recycled materials can prepare a variety of other products, to achieve recycling of waste, in line with the direction of resource conservation. The three is that the disposable foamed tableware, except for the forbidden use of China mainland, is also produced and used in many developed countries such as Japan, the United States and the European Union, and the developed countries are still developing new products for one-off foamed tableware. Some countries such as Japan and Korea have clear legislation to recover the products and other countries. And many areas are managed by non legislative recovery agreements. Four, with the improvement of the social civilization and the change of the application environment, the environment of prohibiting the use of disposable foamed tableware has changed greatly. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the disposable foamed tableware from the elimination to the allowable category, but considering the prohibition of 10 years and the joint efforts of the relevant departments to control the tableware, " White pollution has received significant results, and the management and mechanism for the production, sale, recycling, transit, transport and disposal of disposable foamed tableware has not yet been established. If it is now removed from the elimination catalogue, it will bring a series of adverse social impacts, so it will be temporary in the 2011 Edition. No adjustment is made to it.
In the interview, the reporter learned that according to the opinion of the national development and Reform Commission, in order to achieve a smooth transition of disposable foamed tableware, protect the environment and strengthen the rational utilization of resources, the entry conditions for the disposable foam plastics industry should be formulated as soon as possible, and the mechanism and related standards for recycling and reuse should be established and formulated. After the above work is completed, the machine will be deleted from the obsolete catalogue.
Ma Zhanfeng told reporters that at present the China Plastics Processing Industry Association has reported the relevant plans to the national development and Reform Commission, and will cooperate with the Ministry of industry and information, which will lead the work, to promote one-off hair.