Cracking the plastic pollution of takeaways, this report prescribes a "good prescription" for comprehensive treatment
"At present, no single strategy can reverse the current situation of plastic pollution in the food delivery industry, and a comprehensive and comprehensive treatment plan is needed. Recently, at the seminar on promoting the comprehensive treatment of takeaway plastic pollution organized by the environmental protection organization Get rid of plastic and the Guangdong Provincial Association of Circular Economy and Comprehensive Utilization of Resources, Get rid of plastic and release the "Research Report on the Comprehensive Treatment of Takeaway Plastic Pollution" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"), which took stock of the packaging plastic reduction strategies and measures adopted by the takeaway industry, analyzed the environmental benefits and plastic reduction effects of these solutions, and made a contribution to the takeaway lineA comprehensive treatment strategy is proposed for plastic pollution.
Change the disposable linear consumption pattern of takeaway packaging to reduce environmental impact
With the acceleration of the pace of life and people's pursuit of convenience, China's takeaway market has ushered in explosive growth. According to the statistics of Zhiyan Consulting, the scale of China's takeaway market has reached the trillion level in 2021, and a research report by Sinopec predicts that China's Internet catering takeaway orders will reach 33.9 billion orders per year by 2025, with an economic scale of more than 1.5 trillion.
The rapid growth of takeaway orders has brought a lot of plastic packaging waste, which has put significant pressure on the environment. Scholars have estimated that the total amount of takeaway plastic packaging waste in China is between 460,000 tons and 1.68 million tons every year.
The report pointed out that although the total amount of takeaway packaging waste still accounts for a low proportion of China's total municipal solid waste, with the development of takeaway business, takeaway plastic packaging will increase the pressure and cost of domestic waste disposal, as well as the corresponding carbon emissions. If the cost of health loss due to incineration is included, the social cost of waste disposal for takeaway lunch boxes is higher.
At present, these costs are borne by the whole society, and the principle of "polluter pays" is not reflected. According to research institutions, the annual carbon emissions of China's takeaway plastic packaging are between one million tons and two or three million tons.
China's garbage treatment capacity is developing towards an incineration-based pattern, and the carbon emission intensity of plastic incineration is very high, close to or even the carbon emission intensity of the plastic production stage. Therefore, if the linear consumption pattern of disposable takeaway packaging is not changed, the carbon emission footprint of takeaway packaging will continue to grow with the increase of waste incineration rate.
In response to the current situation of plastic pollution from takeaways, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution" in 2020, proposing to prohibit and restrict the production, sale and use of some plastic products in an orderly manner, and actively promote alternative products. It also requires the formation of a number of replicable and promotable plastic reduction and green logistics models in emerging fields such as e-commerce, express delivery, and takeaway. Subsequently, various policies and regulations related to plastic pollution control have also put forward plastic reduction requirements for the takeaway field. Local governments have also taken active action, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chongqing and other cities have clearly stipulated that takeaways are not allowed to actively provide disposable tableware, and have corresponding penalties.
The effectiveness of plastic pollution control in the field of food delivery is not significant, and there are still many challenges
China's mainstream takeaway platforms have also made more attempts in takeaway plastic packaging pollution control, such as adding takeaway ordering "no tableware" option in the source reduction link, looking for alternative materials for takeaway plastic packaging, and some individual companies have innovated to launch circular heavy lunch boxes for use in the takeaway industry...... "Report" pointed out that the goals, strategies and achievements of takeaway packaging pollution control from the two mainstream platforms of Meituan and Ele.me largely reflect the current situation of plastic pollution control in China's takeaway field.
Subsequently, the packaging plastic reduction strategies and measures adopted by the food delivery industry on the two platforms were investigated, analyzed and inventoried to analyze the environmental benefits and plastic reduction effects of these solutions. The results show that although the platform has taken plastic reduction measures, the measures that have been taken are either ineffective or unable to achieve the expected environmental protection and carbon reduction effects, and there are still many challenges in the control of plastic pollution in the food delivery field.
For example, the "no cutlery" orders on the takeaway platform are small and not effectively executed. The report points out that Meituan's orders for non-tableware account for about 12% of the total orders, and according to relevant research and the platform's own merchant research, there is still room for improvement in the proportion of these "environmental protection orders" that do not provide tableware as required.
The environmental impact is also not significant on existing material alternatives. The report pointed out that the platform promotes the material substitution of traditional plastics, mainly paper packaging and degradable packaging. However, more and more studies using the whole life cycle environmental impact assessment method show that in most cases, the whole life cycle environmental performance of traditional single-use plastic packaging is better than that of single-use packaging of other materials. Single-use material substitution essentially continues the linear mode of production, consumption and disposal, and continuing to invest in this direction will undoubtedly only increase the cost and resource input, and almost cannot produce environmental protection effects or even negative effects.
From the perspective of recycling, the recycling rate of takeaway plastic lunch boxes is low, yet to be scaled, and the development of recycled heavy lunch boxes with high environmental protection benefits is also significantly lagging behind. The report pointed out that the current recycling model of takeaway lunch boxes is still dominated by the market-driven spontaneous and decentralized recycling model, except for a few pilot cities and regions, plastic lunch boxes can only be incinerated and landfilled as "other garbage", and the recycling rate is low. At present, there is only a cool mention project in China, and it is also implemented on a small scale based on closed scenarios, and the two mainstream takeaway platforms have not reflected it in their plastic reduction strategies.
A single strategy cannot reverse the situation, and takeaway plastic pollution needs to be comprehensively addressed
Based on the analysis of the existing measures and effectiveness of plastic pollution control in the food delivery industry, the report points out that no single strategy can effectively reverse the current plastic pollution situation, and a comprehensive and comprehensive treatment plan is urgently needed for plastic pollution in the food delivery industry.
As for the takeaway plastic pollution control strategy, the report points out that it should cover the whole process from source reduction to end treatment, and follow the priority of waste management. The governance principle should first reduce the use of single-use plastics by increasing the proportion of "no cutlery" orders and fully implementing them, minimizing unnecessary packaging, developing and adopting reusable packaging systems for unavoidable takeaway packaging, including low-value recyclables for sorting and recycling for the single-use plastic packaging that has been generated, and finally replacing traditional plastic packaging with materials after comprehensively assessing the environmental impact of the whole life cycle of packaging materials.
The report also gives specific action recommendations for different stakeholders such as takeaway platforms, catering takeaway companies, governments and consumers: the government has introduced a reduction target for takeaway plastic packaging, including a reuse system, introduced policy measures to support innovative recycling lunch box models and large-scale recycling of disposable lunch boxes, optimized platform pollution supervision and law enforcement mechanisms, and improved support policies such as collection and transportation subsidies to promote the recycling of takeaway plastic lunch boxes.
In terms of takeaway platforms, we have set targets for reducing the amount of takeaway plastic packaging for platform enterprises and formulated action plans to achieve them, increased investment and support for the innovation of takeaway lunch box reuse systems, and cultivated meal box reuse infrastructure and consumptionusedpracticeHabitually, using its own data and technical advantages, further optimize the relevant functions and interfaces of "no tableware required", increase the proportion of consumer choice, scientifically evaluate and prudently carry out the material substitution of disposable plastics.
In terms of catering and takeaway enterprises, they will comply with the regulations on the prohibition and restriction of the use of plastics, and minimize the use of disposable plastic products on the premise of ensuring the integrity of the meals. Strengthen personnel training and standardized management of enterprise operations, and strictly implement the "no tableware" order.
Collaborate with stakeholders to build a sustainable takeaway packaging system, actively invest resources and participate in the development and implementation of recyclable takeaway lunch boxes and delivery systems.
On the consumer side, reduce the choice of disposable tableware and supervise the implementation of "no tableware required" order fulfillment by platforms and merchants, choose green and recyclable takeaway packaging, and cooperate with cleaning and sorting disposable takeaway packaging in cities with low-value recyclables sorting and recycling pilots.
