Investigation report on the implementation of the plastic restriction order

Index number: 668621405/2009-00092 Name: "Plastic Restriction Order" Implementation Investigation Report Validity Period: Document Number: Issuing Agency: Taiyuan Investigation Team of the National Bureau of Statistics Information Category: Statistics/Statistical Information/National Statistics Bureau Taiyuan Investigation Team//Keywords: "Plastic Restriction Order" Implementation Investigation Report Obtaining Method: Online Link Obtaining Disclosure Form: Timely Disclosure Generation Date: 2009-07-9 Disclosure Time Limit: Long-term Recording Date: 2009-07-9 Content Overview: Investigation report on the implementation of the "Plastic Restriction Order" Investigation report on the implementation of the "Plastic Restriction Order" According to the requirements of the General Office of the State Council's "Notice on Restricting the Production and Sales of Plastic Shopping Bags", starting from June 1, 2008, my country's "Restriction on Plastic Shopping Bags" The "Plastic Order" was officially implemented, prohibiting all supermarkets, shopping malls, bazaars and other commodity retail places from providing plastic bags to consumers for free, and implementing a paid use system for plastic shopping bags in all supermarkets, shopping malls, bazaars and other commodity retail places. This policy to end the "free use" of plastic bags in my country has aroused widespread concern in society as soon as it was introduced. Today, a full year has passed. In order to understand the implementation of Taiyuan City's "plastic restriction order", the Taiyuan investigation team of the National Bureau of Statistics recently went to some markets, supermarkets, and non-staple food shopping malls in our city to conduct interviews through filling in questionnaires and conducting interviews. In other forms, consumers, individual merchants and market managers were surveyed. The survey results show: 1. The "Plastic Restriction Order" is well implemented in shopping malls and supermarkets. According to the survey, since the "Plastic Restriction Order" was issued, major supermarkets and shopping malls have adopted various methods to publicize the restrictions on the use and production of plastic bags to the public. Purpose and significance, and strictly implement the "Plastic Restriction Order", no longer provide free plastic bags, and the implementation is resolute and thorough; after a period of adaptation, consumers gradually develop the habit of bringing their own shopping bags, baskets, reusable bags or purchasing them at the time Some consumers take away the goods with bare hands due to the habit of carrying bags. All supermarkets and food shopping malls surveyed have announced the specifications of various plastic bags, including large, medium, small and other shopping bags, with prices ranging from 0.3 yuan to 0.1 yuan. We learned from major supermarkets and food shopping malls that since the implementation of the "plastic restriction order", the use of plastic bags has dropped significantly. According to a survey of a large supermarket, the use of paid plastic bags is now 70% less than before the plastic restriction. 2. Markets and small businesses and vendors face difficulties in implementing plastic restrictions. Compared with supermarkets, the “plastic restriction order” has encountered an embarrassing situation in markets. The execution was not smooth. Because the market has scattered merchants, there is no unified shopping outlet, and management is relatively difficult. In particular, the phenomenon of self-employed operators in the vegetable market providing ultra-thin plastic bags for free is still common. According to a survey of self-employed operators in the market, 90% of operators support the “plastic restriction order” issued by the state. They think this is a good policy that benefits the country and the people, but they also say that they still have no choice but to still provide free plastic bags. For example, when selling fresh food such as vegetables, fruits, meat and eggs, customers are worried about food hygiene issues, so it is impossible to put the purchased food in a shopping bag and can only be packaged individually in plastic bags. In supermarkets, rolled bags are provided for free, but if you charge for plastic bags at the market, you will immediately lose customers and lose business. Therefore, individual merchants urgently need to produce environmentally friendly and low-priced products that can replace plastic shopping bags. 3. 71% of consumers support and agree with the "Plastic Restriction Order". The purpose of the implementation of the "Plastic Restriction Order" is to awaken the national awareness of environmental protection, let everyone understand and pay attention to environmental protection, and thus support environmental protection in action. In the past year since its implementation, major supermarkets, shopping malls and bazaars in Taiyuan City have basically created a harmonious atmosphere of civilized and environmentally friendly shopping. In addition, in recent years, citizens’ awareness of environmental protection has continued to increase, and the general public and businesses have implemented the national “plastic restriction order” Very supportive and supportive and responsive. The survey shows that 71% of consumers support and agree with the "plastic restriction order", 92% of consumers believe that energy conservation and environmental protection are imperative, 58% of consumers use less plastic bags than before the plastic restriction, 64% of consumers of consumers can bring their own shopping bags or use vegetable baskets. Environmentally friendly shopping methods have gradually gained popularity and a trend of green shopping has gradually formed.

4. There are some problems that need to be solved in the implementation of the "Plastic Restriction Order". 1. The implementation of the "Plastic Restriction Order" is not good in the market. The investigation showed that after the implementation of the "Plastic Restriction Order", although the industrial and commercial administration department issued a notice restricting the use of free plastic bags to individual merchants in the market and conducted inspections, individual merchants continued to provide free plastic bags to customers. The first reason is that individual merchants are worried that the government cannot implement the "plastic restriction order" for a long time without unified regulations and regulations, and there will be repeated phenomena; the second is that if there is a charge for plastic bags, they are worried that consumers will not come to their stalls to shop, which will affect their business; the third is that at present, There are also mobile vendors selling substandard plastic bags in the market. 2. Vendors who produce and sell substandard plastic bags still exist. Although the "Plastic Restriction Order" stipulates that "the production, sale, and use of ultra-thin plastic bags are prohibited," it does not take specific measures to reduce and curb the production of plastic bags from the source, and no measures are taken to deal with the ultra-thin plastic bags that have now entered the market. Most of the methods of forced recycling are still used openly, leading some manufacturers to speculate and continue production secretly. Mobile vendors who specialize in selling substandard plastic bags in the market are still active and their sales volume remains unabated. For example, a market uses nearly 30,000 substandard plastic bags every day. Although market managers have chased and blocked mobile vendors who sell substandard plastic bags, management is very difficult due to the high mobility of illegal vendors and their concealed actions. This situation is also common in other markets. 3. The environmental protection effect of the “plastic restriction order” is not obvious, and the public’s environmental awareness is lacking. The survey shows that 45% of consumers believe that the use efficiency of plastic bags in the past year has not had an obvious impact on environmental protection. When asked about the biggest obstacle encountered in the implementation of the "plastic restriction order": 32% of consumers They believe that they have not developed the habit of bringing their own shopping bags; 38% of consumers believe that there is a lack of suitable alternatives. The survey revealed that although consumers are now using less charged plastic bags in shopping malls and supermarkets, the use of free plastic bags in markets has not decreased at all. The hand-shred flat bags used to hold fresh food in supermarkets have been banned due to "plastic restrictions." "Order" exemption has become a free substitute in the hands of some customers. The survey results show that 59% of consumers often accept free plastic bags provided by businesses, while only 4% of consumers never accept free plastic bags. Some consumers believe that after the introduction of the "plastic restriction order", the government did not quickly introduce economical and practical shopping bags that are both environmentally friendly and low-cost alternatives to plastic bags, which has brought a lot of inconvenience to consumers' lives, especially when going to fairs. Purchasing fresh fish, shrimp, meat, vegetables, eggs, etc. requires many bags to be packed in categories. For example, the cost of plastic bags is too high and consumers cannot accept it. Consumers believe that shopping malls should provide cheap environmentally friendly shopping bags to replace plastic bags to make up for the inconvenience caused by the absence of plastic bags. 4. There are blind spots in supervision. The use of plastic bags has continued for several years and has spread to every corner of urban and rural areas. There are many original plastic bag production workshops and mobile vendors. Relatively speaking, the “plastic restriction order” issued by the state does not have corresponding supporting regulatory restrictions. Management departments such as industry, commerce, and environmental protection are weak in enforcing laws and supervising violators. Investigations show that in the early stages of the implementation of the "Plastic Restriction Order", most markets, like major supermarkets, all used paid plastic bags that met the standards in accordance with the requirements of the "Plastic Restriction Order". Since there are no corresponding regulatory restrictions, as time goes by and the intensity of inspections weakens, individual merchants openly use charged plastic bags and covertly continue to use substandard plastic bags in order to attract customers and cope with inspections. 5. Several suggestions for further strengthening the implementation of the "Plastic Restriction Order" 1. Further increase the publicity of the "Plastic Restriction Order". Increase the publicity of the "Plastic Restriction Order" through multiple channels and various methods, so that the deep meaning of everyone's participation, conscious plastic restriction, environmental protection, and resource conservation advocated by the "Plastic Restriction Order" will be more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, thereby improving the public awareness of the "Plastic Restriction Order". Environmental awareness, consciously and voluntarily implement the "plastic restriction order". 2. Control "white pollution" from the source of production. During the investigation, consumers and relevant department heads agreed that the production and business operations of non-environmentally friendly ultra-thin plastic bag manufacturers must be severely investigated and punished.

Strengthen supervision and inspection of plastic product manufacturers, wholesale and retail merchants, mobile vendors and user units, implement a qualification production system for plastic bags, and seriously investigate and deal with the production, sale, and use of plastic shopping bags that do not meet national standards in accordance with the law. 3. Speed ??up the development of low-cost alternatives. The plastic bags that have accompanied people's daily lives for many years will be "laid off" immediately, and people are reluctant to part with them. Plastic bags have brought a lot of convenience to people's daily lives. To this end, it is recommended that the government introduce preferential policies and increase capital investment as soon as possible, introduce more environmentally friendly, low-cost alternatives that people are happy to use, and change the status quo of the "plastic bag world" as soon as possible. 4. Straighten out regulatory relationships, intensify supervision, and eliminate the blind spots of “plastic restrictions.” For retail places such as markets that do not have a unified shopping outlet, the industrial and commercial department shall supervise the market operators. If merchants in the market are found to have violated the "plastic restriction order", the market operators shall be punished, and the market operators shall manage the merchants. While restricting plastics, the recycling, transportation, storage, and recycling of waste plastics are crucial. In the survey, most market managers and merchants hope that relevant departments can clear up the blind spots of "plastic restriction" within their respective responsibilities in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, so that the "plastic restriction order" can truly cover the whole society. 5. The ban on plastic bags will not happen overnight. Although the plastic restriction order can reduce people's dependence on plastic bags, due to the low cost of purchasing plastic bags, some consumers and operators still dismiss this expenditure. Therefore, it is recommended that the "plastic restriction order" should be raised to " Plastic ban”. At the same time, other environmentally friendly disposable consumer products should be further promoted. Only in this way will the implementation of the plastic restriction order not be difficult to implement, and the development of a circular economy that conserves resources, saves energy and reduces emissions will be feasible. In short, in the long run, to prevent ultra-thin plastic bags from entering the market, we must start from the root cause. If the "plastic restriction order" has dealt a heavy blow to the traditional plastics industry, it is better to say that it has reshuffled the plastics industry, changed competitive strategies in a timely manner, and realized transformation will create better development opportunities for enterprises. The market demand in the plastics industry will not shrink. On the contrary, restrictions have caused the closure of many small workshops and enterprises, which has just made more space for those enterprises that meet production requirements. It opens up the market for environmentally friendly plastic bag companies and non-woven bag companies, and at the same time provides new business opportunities for scientific research institutions and production companies to find alternatives that are convenient and environmentally friendly, do not waste resources, and are relatively low-cost.