China's NDRC issues plastic waste restriction by end 2020
China's National Development and Reform Commission Sunday issued a ban on some single-use plastics with the aim of cutting plastic consumption by 30% by 2025, according to a statement on its website.
Petrotahlil - The ban will apply to ultra-thin plastic non degradable shopping bags with a thickness of less than 0.025 millimeters in cities, polyethylene agricultural mulch film with a thickness of less than 0.01 mm, disposable foam plastic tableware, disposable plastic cotton swabs and production of everyday chemical products containing plastic microbeads by the end of the year, with the scope being extended in 2022 to include other built up areas.
The ban of plastic supplies to hotels will also be enforced by the end of 2022, with the scope expanded to all hotels and home stays by 2025. Express delivery parcel packaging will also be banned by the end of 2022, with the scope to be extended nationwide by 2025.
Sources said the ban would definitely affect polyethylene and polypropylene demand as well as to a certain extent some of the other commonly used chemicals in plastic packaging, including polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinyl chloride and polystyrene.
China's PE consumption is estimated at 32 million-33 million mt a year, while PP demand is around 28 million mt/year, both accounting for more than half of total Asian demand, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics. It also imported close to 500,000 mt/year of PVC, 500,000 mt/year high impact polystyrene, 700,000 mt/year of PET, in addition to domestic production in January-November 2019, according to the latest Chinese customs statistics.
A further aim of the ban was to promote the use of non-plastic products such as environmentally-friendly cloth bags, biodegradable packaging film bags for fresh products, to cultivate a green supply chain, and to regulate the recycling and disposal of plastic waste, NDRC said.
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Source :Platts
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