Sinopec and Tsinghua University jointly release a report on degradable plastics
Latest News: On September 26, the “Research Project Report on Environmental Impact Assessment and Policy Support of Degradable Plastics” jointly researched by Sinopec and Tsinghua University was officially released. In this study, the material metabolism map of degradable plastics in my country was drawn, and the evaluation index system of degradable plastics with degradability as the core compared with traditional plastics was proposed for the first time.
Degradable plastics refer to plastics that can be degraded into environmentally harmless substances under specific natural environment conditions after use. In order to cope with the increasingly severe pressure of plastic pollution control, measures including the replacement of degradable plastics have gradually attracted the attention of various countries.
The “Report” provides answers to the outstanding issues that need to be solved urgently in the field of degradable plastics, for example, whether degradable plastics have better environmental friendly properties than traditional plastics, and whether degradable plastics can replace traditional plastics with plastics. The role of environmental leakage control, the use of degradable plastics, etc.
The “Report” believes that there are structural contradictions in the use of degradable plastic products at present, and it is necessary to face up to the application scenarios of degradable materials and the effective layout of production capacity. It is necessary to focus on the application of key scenarios, reduce the high-cost layout of degradable materials, the abuse of application scenarios and the development of low-efficiency applications, and focus the use of degradable plastic products in the field of direct environmental leakage.
The “Report” proposes that in the existing terminal processing facilities, the impact of degradable plastics and traditional plastics on the environment is not much different. It is necessary to clarify the whitelist of the application scenarios of degradable plastics, and use the scenarios of plastic products with direct environmental leakage as the formula for local development. And the premise of the introduction of degradable plastic alternatives.
The “Report” suggests that, based on the actual operating time of my country’s industrial composting and anaerobic fermentation processes, the evaluation index of degradation time of degradable plastics should be revised, the degradation time of industrial composting should be adjusted to 30 days, and the degradation time limit of anaerobic fermentation should be adjusted. for 40 days. At the same time, from the perspective that the practical effect of degradable plastics is to solve the problem of environmental leakage, if there are degradable environmental conditions, it is recommended to be in those areas that lack the recycling industry of plastic film residues (or cannot carry out efficient and low-cost/large-scale mechanical recycling of plastic films). Priority is given to promoting the replacement of degradable plastics.