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The degradable plastic bags provided by supermarkets are considered to be easily degradable and more environmentally friendly, and are welcomed by more and more Hungarian people. But is it really greener?
Hungarian environmental experts pointed out that degradable plastic bags are not degradable under any natural conditions, and can only be decomposed into environmentally harmless substances under specific conditions such as compost, soil burial, and fresh water. Like ordinary plastic bags, it will not degrade automatically if not collected properly. If it enters the ocean, it will not degrade automatically because there are no microbial enzymes available on land. According to reports, currently only about 10% of degradable plastic bags are professionally collected and processed.
As for solving the problem of "non-recycling" of shopping bags, Hungarian experts pointed out that the real solution is to use reusable products and packaging materials and give up the one-time consumption habit. A person produces about 600 times their own body weight of garbage in their lifetime, most of which can be recycled, which is a great way to reduce air pollution, reduce the burden on the environment and protect the earth's resources. In this sense, recycling is not a fad or a trend, but a common task.
In July 2020, Hungary passed a bill restricting the use of single-use plastic bags, stipulating a comprehensive "plastic restriction" from July 1, 2021. However, due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the implementation of the "plastic restriction order" has different effects. Experts call for: First, we should insist on not providing consumers with disposable plastic bags for free, and at the same time ensure that merchants do not include the cost of disposable plastic bags in food prices; Separate collection and professional composting; third, eliminate single-use products and packaging as soon as possible, and ensure that they are not replaced by other single-use products.
The disposal of kitchen waste oil is also one of the headaches for the Hungarian government. People are accustomed to pouring waste oil directly into the sewers, which not only greatly increases the failure rate and blockage rate of private and public sewer networks, but also increases the burden and cost of sewage treatment plants. According to statistics, only about 7% of kitchen waste oil from fried food can be collected, and then re-circulated in the form of biodiesel after special processing.
A Hungarian company called "Biotrans" (BIOTRANS) has launched a public welfare action called "Don't Pour Oil" since September 2020, and it has been successful in more than 800 residential waste oil collection points. The first method is to install a 240-liter collection box specially designed for the collection of waste cooking oil in a managed open residential community; second, the company regularly replaces the collection box instead of simply emptying the container to ensure that the community environment will not be polluted; third Is to implement community incentives, the company will provide donations to community kindergartens, or provide public service facilities to the community.
Large-scale supermarket chains in Hungary have also begun to place convenient waste oil collectors at the entrances. The Hungarian government hopes that the collection rate of kitchen waste oil will reach 10% to 15% in the future as the public's awareness of environmental protection increases and more companies invest in environmental protection.
There is still a lot of room for improvement in Hungary's development of circular economy. Budapest generates about 800,000 tons of garbage every year, that is, more than 1 kilogram of garbage per person per day, and only about 10% of the municipal garbage can be recycled after sorting and collection. In February this year, an automated waste sorting plant covering an area of 5,300 square meters in the southern Hungarian city of Szeged was put into use, processing more than 70,000 tons of mixed waste generated by the area’s 245,000 residents each year, which will reduce the amount of landfill waste by three points. one. At present, only 13% of the garbage generated in Szeged is recycled, and the completion of the garbage sorting plant is expected to increase the recycling rate to about 50%.
The circular economy has received greater attention in Hungary due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. In April of this year, Hungary established a circular economy technology platform at the University of Pannonia. One of the bases is that more than 80% of the energy is currently related to fossil fuels, and the circular economy will provide a beneficial supplement to energy independence. The goal of the platform is to accelerate the transition of Hungary to a circular economy through R&D and innovation activities, to put Hungary at the forefront of circular technology, to enhance the core strengths of Hungarian companies, thereby enhancing the global competitiveness of the entire country.
