Circular Economy: China’s solution to Plastic Pollution
21 November 2022
by Oliver Lai
“A fundamental rethink of the way plastic is produced, used, and reused is required to solve plastic pollution.” The 2022 report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Tsinghua University highlighted the pressing need for the Chinese government to accelerate a circular economy for plastics and explored the opportunities that the transition would provide. Indeed, China’s transition to a circular economy for plastics is one that is urgently needed, and one that would align them with their goal of carbon neutrality by 2060.
Impacts of China’s current rate of plastic consumption
On an international scale, China being the single largest producer and exporter of single-use plastics and virgin plastics – new plastics made without any recycled material – contributes significantly to the global climate crisis (Lai, 2022). Additionally, China consumes at least one fifth of the world’s plastics, yet only 17% of the plastic used in China is recycled in some shape or form. The current linear structure of the plastic economy indicates that the majority of plastic used in China ends up as waste – yet China is the largest source of mismanaged plastic waste, and one of the biggest offenders of ocean plastic pollution. As a result of such ocean plastic pollution, one study discovered that all 21 species of sea fish and freshwater fish from Chinese waters that were examined had ingested microplastics (Jabeen, et al., 2017).
The problem of plastic use was further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, where the national takeaway, e-commerce and parcel delivery industries boomed due to the nationwide lockdown. In 2020, the national takeaway industry is estimated to have received over 17 billion orders, and the takeout plastic bags used in a single day could cover at least 390 football fields (Hu, Li and Pan, 2021). If single-use plastics continue to be made at the present rate, they could account for at least 5% of global greenhouse emissions by 2050, according to researchers (Heng, 2021).
Circular economy: China’s solution
What is a circular economy?
Circular economy is a concept that replaces the traditional “take-make-waste” linear economy in favour of increased reuses and recycling such that materials are kept in use for as long as possible. The idea behind this is simple: by extending the life of products and materials, more value can be extracted from them while less waste will be generated, making the whole economy more environmentally efficient.
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a circular economy for plastic pollution not only reduces the annual volume of plastics entering the oceans and global greenhouse gas emissions, but it also generates large amounts of savings and creates new jobs that aid in the transition into a greener economy.
China’s action plan
Considering the dire climate consequences should China continue to produce, consume, and export plastics at their current rate, the government made a commitment to carbon peaking by 2030, and carbon neutrality by 2060. At the same time, the government set out to establish a circular economy for plastics in a bid to reduce waste and consumption of single-use plastics in their 14th Five Year Plan.
To establish the circular economy, China has come up with several key objectives, namely:
reducing single-use plastic production and consumption at source;
improving plastic waste collection and recycling;
establishing the whole chain management system of plastic pollution; and
reducing plastic waste leakage.
These objectives set out to tackle the problem of plastic pollution by targeting the sources of pollution, as well as the production, consumption, and disposal of plastics. By having such a focus, the framework implemented ensures that plastic items used are kept within the economy and out of the environment. It is estimated that
COVID-19: obstacle to a circular economy?
China’s gradual movement towards a circular economy for plastic pollution began more than ten years ago, yet the impetus to implement a comprehensive set of policies and a long-term framework only came in recent years when there has been a greater focus on climate change issues globally. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 became an obstacle to the ban on single-use plastic products – the unrestrained use of disposable plastic bags, lunch boxes and masks led to hundreds of millions of plastic waste every day.
COVID-19’s impact on China’s plastic usage
The increased demand for single-use plastic due to the pandemic led to the generation of more than eight million tons of pandemic-associated plastic waste globally (Peng et al., 2021). Additionally, China’s zero-Covid policy has led to the implementation of strict COVID-19 restrictions, which include lockdowns, quarantining, and rigorous testing – all of which would lead to the increase in usage and disposal of single-use plastic packaging and personal protective equipment (PPEs), which are potential sources of pollution for the land and aquatic environment. Optimistically, at least 6.06 million disposable plastic bags were used for packaging in the lockdown period in Wuhan, and it is estimated that in China’s 19 first-tier cities alone, more than 500 million disposable plastic bags were used within the 30-day lockdown period (Liu et al., 2021).
Despite the exorbitant amount of plastic used in China during lockdowns and quarantining, the central government still insists on strict regulations and adherence to their zero-Covid policy. The government’s goal of reducing plastic waste and zero-Covid seem incompatible with each other – and with the recent conclusion of the party congress, it seems unlikely for China to be able to reconcile the two in the foreseeable future, limiting the effectiveness of the country’s movement towards a circular economy for plastic pollution.
Stakeholders in China’s circular economy
The implementation of the five-year plan by the central government will require the cooperation of municipal governments, corporations and citizens alike to achieve its desired effects.
Businesses
In particular, the restaurants, e-commerce, and delivery services industry may see a large impact on their revenue as the framework implemented specifically mandates these industries to report their use of single-use plastics (BBC, 2020). This signifies the need for additional manpower with retailers having to report their plastic consumption to a nationwide system established by the Ministry of Commerce. Additionally, with China’s biodegradable plastic industry still being a sunrise industry, barriers to mass production including capacity limitations on raw materials (Chang, 2021) push up the cost of biodegradable plastics. This, coupled with the strict regulations on single-use plastic usage, will likely result in significant increases in production and operational costs for businesses in these industries.
Individual citizens
Furthermore, such policies implemented would have ripple effects that trickle down all the way to individual citizens. While citizens in first-tier cities may be able to adapt quickly to the different waste management measures implemented by the government, those who stay in the countryside or relatively more rural areas may find it challenging to adapt to the new measures in place. There still remains much room for improvement when it comes to waste education in China, and this can be further promoted to build citizenry behavioural norms and environmental ethics in the future (Huang et al., 2019).
Biodegradable plastic industry
Finally, China’s commitment to the circular economy would also motivate the development of innovative new technologies to manufacture biodegradable packaging materials and streamline recycling and disposal processes. This not only creates opportunities for sustainable growth and green financing, but also presents new jobs for the country’s budding high-tech manufacturing industry, thereby increasing the employment rate.
Conclusion
Having had measures to reduce plastic pollution in place for more than ten years, China’s recent commitment to reducing plastic waste is more evident than ever. As one of the biggest polluters in the world, all eyes are on China as it strives to tackle one of the most pressing issues the world grapples with today. If China is successful in reducing plastic pollution, it will serve as a precedent for other countries to follow suit – likely leading to a global movement towards establishing a circular economy for plastics.
References
Lai O. 22 March 2022. China and its Plastic Pollution Crisis. Earth.Org. Retrieved from https://earth.org/china-plastic-pollution/.
Jabeen K, Su L, Li J, Yang D, Tong C, Mu J, Shi H. February 2017. ‘Microplastics and mesoplastics in fish from coastal and fresh waters of China’. Environmental Pollution, Volume 221 (2017), pp. 141-149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2016.11.055
Hu Y, Li N, Pan Y, Li Y. 27 January 2021. China’s war on plastic waste. CGTN. Retrieved from https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-01-27/China-s-war-on-plastic waste-XmFcetAnTy/index.html
Heng C. 23 May 2021. China’s plastic waste mountain the biggest in the world: study. South China Morning Post. Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3134480/chinas-plastic-waste mountain-biggest-world-study
Peng Y, Wu P, Schartup A, Zhang Y. 6 October 2021. Plastic waste release caused by COVID-19 and its fate in the global ocean. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2111530118
Liu J, Vethaak A, An L, Liu Q, Yang Y, Ding J. ‘An Environmental Dilemma for China During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Explosion of Disposable Plastic Wastes’. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 106, pp. 237-240 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-021-03121-x
BBC. 1 December 2020. China gets tough on firms over single-use plastics. BBC UK. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55141157
Che C. 6 April 2021. Is the ‘strictest plastic ban in history’ working in China? The China Project. Retrieved from https://thechinaproject.com/2021/04/06/is-the-strictest-plastic-ban-in-history-working-in-china/
Huang Y. July 2019. ‘Waste Management Education: Chinese Perspective and Experiences’. Environmental Sustainability and Education for Waste Management, pp. 117-139 (2019). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334676578_Waste_Management_Educa tion_Chinese_Perspective_and_Experiences
