Metallurgy / Chemicals / Rubber & Plastics

The Research Report on the Environmental Impact and Recycling of Packaging Plastics in the takeaway industry (2021) jointly prepared by the Chemical Business Department of China Petrochemical Corporation, the Institute of Ecological Civilization and Recycling Economy of Tongji University, and the Zhejiang Chang Triangle Recycling Economy Technology Research Institute, has been released recently, providing the relevant environmental accounting basis for promoting the greening of takeaway packaging in China.

The report shows that since 2015, China's takeout industry has witnessed explosive growth. The number of takeout orders has increased from 1.7 billion in 2015 to 17.12 billion in 2020, which has led to the increase of plastic packaging consumption (waste) from 57000 tons in 2015 to 574000 tons in 2020, a ninefold increase in five years. The whole life cycle of plastic packaging for takeout has a great impact on the environment. From 2015 to 2020, the cumulative carbon footprint of plastic packaging for takeout will be 7.71 million tons of carbon dioxide, including 1.7528 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in the processing phase. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

It is expected to become a trillion market in 2022

Since 2020, new policies such as the new solid waste law, the 2.0 version of the plastic restriction order, and the "Fourteenth Five Year Plan" Plastic Pollution Control Action Plan have emerged frequently, demonstrating the country's determination to control plastic pollution. Especially after the "double carbon" goal was proposed, it is an important task of the "Fourteenth Five Year Plan" ecological environment protection plan to actively respond to plastic pollution, which is related to the construction of ecological civilization and high-quality development in China. In 2021, the project team will carry out the research on the closed cycle system of plastic in the takeout industry. Focusing on the prevention and control of plastic pollution in the takeout industry, the project team will investigate and analyze the characteristics of plastic consumption in the takeout packaging, estimate the total amount of plastic consumption based on the dynamic material flow method, analyze the carbon footprint of the takeout packaging plastic throughout its life cycle based on the life cycle assessment system, and analyze the current situation of the treatment of the takeout packaging plastic from the perspectives of reduction, reuse and recycling, Suggestions were put forward for the management of plastic packaging for takeout, and Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

The project team, referring to the big data report on Chinese urban takeout (2018) and the analysis report on the development of China's takeout industry in 2019, classified takeout into seven types: fast food bento, local food, snacks, foreign cuisine, dessert drinks, fresh fruits and vegetables, and supermarket convenience. Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Nanjing ranked among the top five cities in the country in terms of the total number of takeout orders for seven types of takeout.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, with the accelerated pace of social development and the change of lifestyle in the post epidemic era, takeout has become a new lifestyle. In 2020, the number of Internet catering takeout orders in China will reach 17.12 billion, about 10 times that of 2015; The economic scale reached 835.2 billion yuan, about 17 times that of 2015. It is estimated that China's Internet catering takeout is expected to develop into a trillion level market in 2022. It is estimated that by 2025, China's Internet catering takeout orders will reach 33.9 billion, with an economic scale of more than 1.5 trillion yuan.

Recycling is still in the exploration stage

The takeaway packaging waste is mainly divided into paper packaging, plastic packaging and wooden tableware according to the type of packaging materials. There are many types of plastic materials with strong plasticity, which are widely used in one-time packaging for takeout. Plastic itself is not a pollutant. The essence of plastic pollution is that plastic wastes leak into the soil, water and other natural environments and are difficult to degrade, bringing visual pollution, soil damage, micro plastics and other environmental hazards.

From the front end, consumers have not formed the habit of classification, and take out lunch boxes are discarded after use. The project team found in the survey: First, from the perspective of consumers' wishes, most consumers are reluctant to clean the takeout packaging for fear of trouble; Secondly, the lack of publicity and education on the classified recycling of plastic packaging for takeout led to the mixing of lunch boxes containing a large amount of leftovers with PET drink bottles and plastic bags, which also easily led to cross contamination; Finally, the equipment used for cleaning and classifying the packaging in takeout scenarios such as campus and office buildings is also missing. Consumers usually put disposable takeout packaging waste into domestic waste.

From the perspective of the middle end, it is difficult to store takeout lunch boxes and the recycling system is not perfect. In the case that the front end does not clean and classify the plastic packaging for external sale, the plastic packaging for external sale contains attachments such as oil and salt in food residues, which increases the cost of storage, collection and transportation for the middle end recycling enterprises. In the post epidemic era, the public is paying more and more attention to public environmental health, so it is difficult to find suitable places for stacking in the current common takeout scenarios such as schools, office buildings and communities.

From the end point of view, the takeout lunch boxes are mainly incinerated and landfilled, increasing the burden of urban waste disposal. At present, most of the end treatment methods for packaging plastics sold abroad are incineration or landfill by mixing domestic waste. Recycling such as classified recycling and cleaning is still in the exploration stage. The takeaway packaging waste mixed with oil and salt directly enters the urban waste incineration or landfill system, which will increase the pressure on urban waste disposal, Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reported.

Building a green industrial chain system

The core of taking out plastic pollution control is not just the control of plastic pollution, but more systematic and comprehensive management of the whole life cycle of taking out plastic. Under this concept, the management of takeout plastic packaging should include four stages: first, intuitive reduction, such as reducing the use of straws; Second, reuse, such as encouraging consumers to reduce the use of disposable plastic tableware; The third is classified recycling to reduce the environmental waste of disposable plastic packaging products; Fourth, replace the traditional materials by using other materials or new materials to manufacture takeout tableware and packaging.

The recycling of plastic packaging for takeout involves various links such as material suppliers, packaging enterprises, catering enterprises, takeout platforms, consumers, recycling enterprises and recycling processing enterprises. Without the participation of any link, the recycling of plastic packaging for takeout cannot be well solved. It needs to be designed from the perspective of the entire industrial chain to form a closed loop system of plastic packaging for takeout. The takeout platform links all parties in the takeout plastic packaging closed cycle industrial chain, is the link between consumers, catering enterprises, material and packaging manufacturers and recycling processing enterprises, and has advantages in intelligence, traceability, big data and other aspects. With the participation and assistance of the takeout platform, the green management policies on plastic packaging for takeout issued by relevant departments can be well implemented.

For the large-scale production of takeout packaging plastics, the plastic chemical method should be used to recycle the end treatment. The recycling lunch box mode is mainly applicable to the relatively closed scenes such as universities and industrial parks. At present, a major plastic pollution control problem faced by China is the large-scale waste plastic of takeout packaging that cannot be recycled physically. Therefore, large-scale chemical enterprises should be encouraged to build large-scale plastic chemical recycling treatment facilities in Jiangsu, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Shandong, Beijing and other regions where a large amount of plastic packaging waste is produced for takeout, so as to carry out plastic end treatment, Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reported.