"General technical conditions for disposable degradable tableware" and related national policy support

On November 19, 1999, the State Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision formally released the "General Specifications for Disposable Degradable Catering Tools" (GB18006.1-1999) and "Test Methods for Degradation Performance of Disposable Degradable Catering Products" (GB/T18006). .2-1999) and other two mandatory standards, stipulated since January 1, 2000. This indicates that China has once again taken a substantive step in the governance of "white pollution", and it is a powerful impetus to fundamentally governing "white pollution." However, the introduction of the standard is only the beginning of work and does not mean that the task is completed. There are many arduous and meticulous tasks to be done. According to my own incomplete understanding of the status of production and sales of disposable tableware in China, I have made a few observations. After the introduction of national standards, there are still some issues that need to be solved. The Uniformity of Testing Institutions and Testing Methods The new national standards have clearly stipulated the appearance quality, service performance, hygiene requirements, and reconciliation performance as well as test methods of disposable tableware, but they do not specify the department and level of inspection. There are two problems in the actual operation: First, the inspection report of some enterprise products is a comprehensive inspection report issued by a certain inspection unit, which has a question of whether it is authoritative and professional. The second is that different companies have different types of product commissioned inspection units, at the county level; there are municipal and provincial level; provincial level; and national level. Obviously, although testing by a single standard, it is difficult to maintain the same sampling methods and testing methods for different levels of units in the testing process. In addition, enterprises can freely select test units according to their own wishes, which makes the test report fairness different. 2. Although the national standards for the control of eliminated products and unqualified products in the sales process have been issued, individual production companies cut corners in the production process in order to promote sales, and dumped products that cannot meet the national standards to the market at a low price. Due to the current lack of effective control over the disposable tableware market, these unqualified companies and their products are subject to loopholes, which not only undermines the reputation of alternative products, but also undermines the interests of consumers. The State Economic and Trade Commission's Order No. 6 of 1999 stipulates that the production, sale, and use of disposable foam plastic snack utensils shall be prohibited before the end of 2000. At present, this deadline is approaching. Judging from the conditions of some cities that issued the ban in advance, the nation’s ban on disposable foam plastic utensils still requires a lot of effort in addition to the express provisions. Some users are eager to phase out the low price of the product and adopt a ban on the use of banned products. How to regulate the market of disposable biodegradable tableware? How to supervise the elimination of eliminated products and the quality of substitute products? How to deal with the offender? Which department is in charge of this work will not specify the issues, and it will be difficult to implement alternatives for biodegradable tableware. 3. Consumers have doubts about individual substitute products. In the promulgated national standards, “Light—Biodegradable Plastic Tableware” is also included in the replacement products. Light—Biodegradable plastic is a kind of vegetable starch and photosensitizer added to conventional plastics to increase the biodegradability and photodegradability of plastic products. It is also called “double degradable plastic”. Many consumers, including some experts, have questioned this. First, compared with other plastic tableware, degradable plastic tableware has no qualitative change, and its main raw material is plastic. After publicity in various media in recent years, consumers have learned that the reason why the state has to prohibit the production, sale, and use of disposable foam plastic tableware is based on two reasons: protecting the environment and people's health. Abandoned plastic products can not be degraded within 200 years, causing serious "white pollution." At the same time, toxic and harmful substances in plastics can cause serious harm to the human body. For example, a study published in the UK's Nature Weekly, published on October 21, 1999, pointed out that a plastic that is commonly used for the production of baby bottles and other food containers may be the cause of premature puberty. The “Yomiuri” monthly issue in May 1998 reported that according to studies in the United States, Japan, and other countries, more than 70 kinds of man-made chemicals, including foamed plastics, may produce environmental hormones that threaten the reproduction of humans and wildlife. . After these chemicals enter the organism through food and air, they produce hormone-like effects that affect the hormone secretion of the organism itself, and interfere with the mechanism of its own balanced secretion in vivo, especially the functions that affect reproduction. The effects of environmental hormones on the human body include: reduction of immune system function, occurrence of malignant tumors, reduction of sperm volume in men, and deterioration of quality. An article published in China's "Economic Daily" on the second edition of November 15, 1999 stated: "General plastic products are difficult to decompose in nature, buried in the soil and impede the growth of crops; they are eaten by livestock, and the digestive system is light. If you get sick, you have to die; if you incinerate it, you release a lot of toxic gases, and the disposable foam plastic, which was once a symbol of a breakthrough in the food packaging industry, is even more damaging and made of it as a raw material. Tableware produces toxins and carcinogens dioxins that are harmful to the human body when exposed to high temperatures above 65 degrees C. Since degradable plastic tableware and foam plastic tableware are based on conventional plastics such as Polystyrene, the foamed plastics Is the toxic substance not harmful to the human body in degradation of plastics? Degradable plastic tableware, especially whether instant noodle bowls can produce dioxins after heating or rinsing into hot water, naturally becomes an issue of concern. Second, photosensitizers added to dual-degradable plastic tableware contain varying degrees of toxicity, and some are even carcinogens. It is stipulated that photodegradable plastics are not allowed to be used for packaging of foods, and why is it used as an alternative to foamed plastic tableware in China? Thirdly, experts from the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences pointed out that biodegradable plastics cannot be completely degraded. The molecular state can only be changed from a large block to a small block, which is more difficult to recover than a non-degradable plastic, and has greater damage to the ecological environment.From the above three perspectives, double-degradable plastic tableware is just a variant of foam plastic tableware. The main hazards of foamed plastic tableware are not fundamentally changed in double degradable plastic tableware, therefore, the author believes that if double-degradable plastic tableware is used instead of foamed plastic tableware, then the significance of product replacement will be lost. Some Suggestions for the Problem 1. Strengthen the propaganda of the replacement of disposable tableware. By the end of 2000, the relevant state departments should make full use of all available promotional media and related meetings to carry out the replacement of disposable tableware. Widely publicized: One is to publicize the dangers of the products that are eliminated and the significance of the replacement work. The full attention of the fee-holders raises people’s awareness of self-protection and enables consumers to realize that not resisting disposable foam plastic utensils is tantamount to harming themselves and is responsible for future generations.The second is to guide consumers in understanding the substitutions. The price of the product: After years of development, the disposable foam plastic tableware has matured in terms of process, technology, production process, sales channels, etc. The main raw material, plastic, is also relatively inexpensive, and therefore compared with alternative products. Naturally has a price advantage, but alternative products are also reasonable in terms of price, according to the statistics of the 1960s: the packaging rate for food products is 10.5%; while the US survey of 500 companies in the 1990s showed that: The ratio of packaging costs to ex-factory prices is 22%, which means that if the selling price of a fast food is 10 yuan, the price of the lunch box should be between 1 and 2 yuan. The price of the replacement product is much lower than this ratio.For example: pulp moulded lunch boxes are only priced at around RMB 0.30 each, it should be said that this price is Li, is currently China's consumption level acceptable. Moreover, the price of any new product at the initial stage may be higher (plastic products are no exception), but with the development of production and the improvement of technical level, the price will certainly go down. 2. After the management work must keep up with the introduction of the above-mentioned national standards, some problems in the market can only be solved effectively by strengthening management. First, it is very necessary to reasonably regulate the product testing department. The author believes that the inspection work should be professional and have certain authority. Therefore, the use performance and appearance quality of the product should be tested by the quality supervision department; hygiene requirements should be tested by the health and epidemic prevention department; degradation performance should be detected by the environmental protection department. The level of testing units can neither be arbitrarily relaxed nor stipulated. Can be detected by provincial or equivalent agencies at the provincial level. Second, in order to safeguard the interests of consumers and production enterprises, a production license system should be implemented for disposable degradable tableware. Enterprises that do not meet national standards must not allow production; unqualified products must not enter the market. The third is the introduction of penalties for continued production, sales, use of phase-out products, and production, sales, and substandard substitute products. A department or a certain number of departments should be designated to manage this work (for example, the industrial and commercial department, environmental protection department, sanitation inspection department, etc.). 3. The state should give certain policy support to the best in alternative products