The prevention and control of plastic pollution needs to improve the management policy of plastic waste

I. Control the movement of plastic waste across borders

In 2017, the general office of the state council issued the implementation plan for the reform of the solid waste import management system by banning foreign garbage from entering China. China will ban the import of waste plastics from domestic sources until the end of 2017, according to the plan. This is the first time for China to declare war on the transboundary movement of plastic waste, will play a positive role in controlling the pollution of plastic waste in our country, and will also help countries around the world to strengthen the treatment and recycling of plastic waste, reduce the production of plastic waste. At present, China only bans waste plastics in domestic sources. It is suggested to increase the scope of the list of prohibited imports, and include waste plastics other than domestic sources into the list of prohibited imports. At the same time, it should be forbidden to transfer the plastic waste produced in China to other countries, so as to establish the image of China as a responsible country to control the transnational transfer of waste.

II. Strengthen plastic packaging management

With the rapid development of express delivery industry and catering industry, the demand for plastic packaging has increased sharply, but the overall recycling rate of express waste in China is low, only less than 20%.On February 7, 2018, the general administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine of the People's Republic of China and the national standards commission of the People's Republic of China issued the new national standards for packaging products for express delivery. The new standard reduces the quantitative requirements of package paper, air cushion film package and plastic woven cloth package, reduces the thickness requirements of plastic film package, and requires the use of biodegradable plastic package. But at the same time, the new standards are faced with high costs and difficult implementation of the question, the main problem is the use of biodegradable express bags cost insufficient performance, express box recycling cost is high. In fact, practice also shows that both express companies and consumers have little enthusiasm for recycling packages.

Internationally, the strategies adopted by different countries are not the same. The United States provides tax breaks for recycling packaging companies, Japan encourages recycling of packaging, and Germany enacts mandatory recycling. From the practice of rapid development of express package in China, there are still some difficulties in the implementation of biodegradable plastics, and the problem of rapid growth of plastic package in express industry cannot be solved fundamentally. The possible solution is to strengthen the supervision of the express delivery industry, implement the whole-process management of the use of plastic packaging, and avoid excessive packaging; Use plastic packaging instead of products to maximize the reuse of Courier packages. In addition, most of the plastic packages are discarded as household garbage; Considering that it is neither economical nor practical for express enterprises to recycle plastic waste, a certain amount of environmental tax on packaging recycling can be levied on express parcels, and this part of tax can be used to subsidize the classification, recycling and treatment of plastics in household waste. Finally, it is necessary to strengthen cleaner production certification for express delivery enterprises in China, so as to improve their self-discipline.

III. Direct landfill of plastic waste is restricted

For a long time, due to the cost and technical reasons, the waste treatment in China is mainly landfill, and a large amount of plastic waste is also buried underground. The degradation time of plastic waste is very long, even reaching 400-500 years, far longer than the designed service life of most landfills of 200 years. Therefore, plastic waste landfill has great follow-up risks. From the experience of the EU, the recycling rate of plastic packaging increased from 14.6 percent to 16.7 percent from 2006 to 2016, with recycling rate increasing from 3.9 percent to 6.8 percent and energy recycling rate from 3.8 percent to 6.5 percent. The proportion of landfills fell from 7.2% to 3.4%, a 53% drop. Germany has banned landfills across the country since 2005.The percentage of landfills in the United States has also been declining. The experience of Europe and America shows that the proportion of landfills, including plastics, is declining. referring to the international experience, our country should legislate as soon as possible to require sorting and cleaning before landfill and prohibit direct landfill of plastic waste.

IV. Complete the plastic recycling system

The average recycling rate in Europe is more than 45%, and in Germany it is 60%.The EU plans to recycle all plastic packaging by 2030.According to the data published in the annual report on comprehensive utilization of resources in China (2014) released by the national development and reform commission in 2014, the recycling utilization rate of waste plastics in China from 2009 to 2013 was 23% to 29%, which is obviously different from developed countries.

The recycling of plastic and microplastic waste should strictly implement the "extended producer responsibility" system, and adopt the principle of "whoever pollutes, pays" to improve the recycling utilization rate. We will establish a recycling subsidy mechanism for renewable resources such as plastic bags and other waste plastics, encourage manufacturers to innovate in green products, and increase the proportion of recycled materials in products. Explore the establishment of an environmental tax mechanism for plastic bags and other disposable plastic products (such as plastic straws), collect environmental taxes from producers or consumers, establish a special fund, and use the tax to recycle plastic waste and other environmental activities. At the same time, the responsibilities of tax authorities and regulatory authorities should be clarified, and the rights and obligations of the regulated objects should be granted. In addition, secondary pollution control of plastic recycling enterprises should be strengthened to avoid the re-pollution of the environment caused by plastic recycling.

On the whole, the most urgent and practical measures are still to strengthen the recycling and utilization of plastic waste resources, including the production of new plastics from waste plastics and the generation of petroleum through cracking. Meanwhile, the efficient combustion system is improved to make full use of waste plastic heat energy while avoiding the pollution of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and dioxins.