The "plastic restriction order" has been issued for many years, non degradable disposable plastic bags have gradually withdrawn from the market, and reusable non-woven bags have become one of the main substitutes. It is widely used in supermarkets, takeout and other fields. Some enterprises also distribute non-woven bags printed with propaganda slogans to the masses. But you know what? In fact, non-woven bags are even more difficult to degrade than "white polluted" plastic bags, which will also pollute the environment.

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It can be found in takeout and supermarkets, and non-woven bags have become a substitute for plastic bags

Disposable plastic shopping bags are consumables in daily life. They were once called "white pollution" because they are non degradable. After the "plastic restriction order" was implemented, disposable plastic bags were gradually banned, and people began to look for various substitutes. Now, non-woven bags, paper bags and biodegradable plastic bags are widely used as substitutes.

On June 9, the reporter of Modern Express paid a visit to the market for the use of non-woven bags. Near lunchtime, the reporter came to the takeout counter of an office building in Xuanwu District, Nanjing. This is the busiest time for the delivery boy. He goes in and out here and scans the code in the cupboard to store meals.

The reporter noted that most of the packages used by businesses are biodegradable plastic bags, but about 15% of businesses still use non-woven bags to pack lunch boxes. The consumer who is taking the meal said, "those packaged with non-woven fabrics are usually big brand chain stores. The packaging looks very tall. I also order it once in a while." When the reporter asked how to deal with these non-woven bags for takeaway, most consumers said frankly that "they generally throw them away".

In the supermarket, non-woven bags are also good for consumers. In a comprehensive supermarket in Yuhuatai District, Ms. Yin, a citizen, was scanning the code to check out. She took out her non-woven bag to hold the relevant items she had bought. "This bag is from the drugstore. I think it's very strong. It's always been used." Ms. Yin said frankly that there were many similar non-woven bags at home, most of which were distributed at the event, and some were gifts from some businesses.

In the streets, you can also see many citizens carrying non-woven bags. After the implementation of the "plastic restriction order", non-woven bags seem to have entered thousands of households and have been widely used.

Dispel doubts

Non woven bags are still plastic in nature, even more difficult to degrade than plastic bags

On march9,2021, the consumer side Research Report on the new regulations on plastic prohibition and restriction in the Yangtze River Delta released by Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission showed that 76.4% of the respondents said they had non-woven environmental protection bags at home, 42.6% of the respondents said they did not use them because they were "poor quality" and "ugly", and about 30% of the respondents used non-woven environmental protection bags as they were.

Although the non-woven bag has a large coverage, its identity has been "questioned". Recently, some environmentalists pointed out that non-woven bags also belong to plastic pollution. Is that right? The reporter of Modern Express found Yupeng, an industry expert and the principal of Nanjing Pengli Molding Technology Co., Ltd. of China shipbuilding industry group, which is mainly engaged in polymer functional new materials, to popularize science.

Yu Peng said that in the eyes of the public, "non-woven fabric" is recognized as a green material because of the word "cloth" in its name. At present, the common biodegradable shopping bags in the market should be polybutylene terephthalate (PBAT) and polylactic acid (PLA). "But in fact, the main raw material for the production of non-woven fabrics is polypropylene, or PP for short. That is to say, the essence of non-woven bags is plastic products."

Yu Peng also provided the reporter with such a set of data from the degradable plastics professional committee of China Plastics Association. Through the evaluation of each link of the production process of various shopping bags, their life cycle assessment in the production and use process is obtained. The reporter of Modern Express found that the material consumption of non-woven bags (used once) is 24.96kg, the energy consumption is 127.64kg standard coal, the greenhouse gas emission is 101.92kg CO2, and the solid waste generated is 34.3g. The four data of disposable plastic shopping bags are 3.12, 7.17, 6.08 and 4.6 respectively. If the non-woven bag is used only once, the energy consumption of a single non-woven bag is 17.8 times that of a disposable plastic bag, and the emission is 16.7 times that of a disposable plastic bag.

Not only that, Yu Peng said that the common non-woven bags in China are thin, about 0.1-1.0mm thick, with poor durability, which also leads to higher energy consumption and emissions, and is not conducive to environmental protection.

proposal

Increase management and publicity, and bring non-woven bags into the scope of plastic restriction order

For a long time, as a very important aspect of environmental protection, plastic pollution control has been stipulated in a series of documents issued by the state and local governments.

On january16,2020, the opinions of the national development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of ecological environment on Further Strengthening the control of plastic pollution (hereinafter referred to as the opinions) were officially released; On September 8, 2021, the national development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of ecological environment issued the action plan for plastic pollution control during the 14th five year plan.

According to the regulations of the issued documents, "degradable" is a countermeasure against disposable non recyclable plastics. For those requiring degradability, only several disposable non recyclable plastic products are selected as the implementation objects: plastic shopping bags, express bags, straws and lunch boxes. A wider range of disposable non recyclable plastics will be gradually promoted when the time is ripe, and finally a full coverage will be formed.

However, in the specific implementation process, the abuse of non-woven fabrics has aroused the objection of many environmentalists. Article 3 "promotion and application of alternative products" (6) of the opinions clearly states: "promote the use of non plastic products such as environmental protection cloth bags, paper bags and degradable shopping bags in shopping malls, supermarkets, pharmacies, bookstores and other places." The environmental protection cloth bags mentioned here must be non-plastic products, and non-woven cloth bags obviously do not meet this condition.

"I hope relevant departments can strengthen management, and at the same time, keep up with the popular science and publicity of citizens." In an interview with the reporter of modern express, Yu Peng said that the most urgent thing now is to refine the industry regulations. The non-woven bags that do not meet the requirements hope to be included in the scope of the plastic restriction order. (reporter Jiyu)