Recycling of packaging waste is promising

Faced with the pressure of environmental survival in the world and the Chinese government's efforts to develop a recycling economy and strive for sustainable development, packaging waste has become the main source of the continuous growth of urban waste in China. In addition, the effective recycling and rational use of packaging waste is a problem that cannot be evaded by all levels of government (especially law enforcement agencies). Recently, the reporter has taken account of the proportion of packaging waste in urban garbage, and the various types of packaging waste materials constitute the current recycling channels and recycling and utilization. Investigations were conducted at a certain place in Haidian District, Beijing.

I. Growing Urban Garbage and Packaging Waste According to the theory of urban development and the standards of modern industry, it is not an exaggeration to say that today's cities are completely surrounded by garbage. An old employee of the Haidian District’s environmental sanitation department told reporters that urban waste in the 1950s and 1960s was basically a material that could return to nature, such as coal ash from burning briquette coal and briquettes, and inedible parts of fruits and vegetables. In the garbage at that time, not only the plastic bag was not seen, but also the waste paper was rarely seen. The pick-and-paste was mainly based on the picking of waste paper. The old clothes and old shoes were very contented. In the urban wastes of the 1970s and 1980s, there were used batteries, aged plastic products (such as plastic shoes and plastic sheets) and used paper that could not be collected. From the 90's to the present, the contents of rubbish can be said to have everything, among which the packaging waste bears the brunt. In addition, the building materials produced by home renovation, old abandoned furniture, household appliances, used clothes, old shoes, so to speak, what you can see in the store, can be picked in the garbage, but some of the picked things have been lost The value of use is only a small value, so picking up and picking up is not worth it.

So is this “too lazy” thing really useless, and what is it mainly? According to the statistics of relevant departments of the Haidian District Environmental Sanitation Bureau, nearly half of the garbage produced by urban residents’ lives is packaged waste, and about half of the packaging waste can be recovered normally. It includes the use of various beverages and mineral water. Ester bottles, aluminum cans, standard beer bottles, soy sauce, vinegar bottles, various used corrugated boxes, cartons, etc. There are more packaging wastes that cannot be recycled. There are various types of food, medicine, household products, plastic bags, all kinds of food, medicine, cosmetics glass bottles, non-standard beverage bottles, spice bottles, dairy bags, and Tetra Pak. , various packaging fillers, such as PS foam plastic.

Second, the way out of packaging waste - for merchants and manufacturers of incentives Whether packaging waste really worthless? Are these resources that can be recycled in developed countries not to be treated as rubbish here? Actually, from the perspective of insiders, it is not worthwhile to do this kind of thing, but it is very valuable. A professional who engaged in the recycling of used plastics told reporters that since the beginning of last year, the price of oil in the world market has doubled, and as a by-product of petroleum, plastic raw materials have also risen. Whether it is polyethylene, polypropylene, or polyester, some prices have risen several times. On the side PS foamed polystyrene also more than doubled. He said that what he wants to do now is to collect various waste plastic bags, bottles, boxes, etc. as packaging wastes. If he meets the standards for recycling, he would prefer to pay a high price per ton (1000-2,000 yuan/ton). ), and then can be sold to the manufacturer 3000-4000 yuan / ton. This kind of thing is very easy to do, because it is a wishful thinking. You have to know that some plastic materials have risen to one or two thousand ten thousand tons. But the key problem is that it cannot be closed. It is not too small or dirty. Although this thing is very expensive, but the manufacturers are too lazy to pick up, so do not receive at all.

The sorting and cleanup of rubbish like this has long been commonplace in Western developed countries. As early as 1991, Germany enacted a very meticulous "Packaging Waste Disposal Act" and implemented it in every production enterprise, commercial enterprise and family unit. It is understood that in Germany, every resident family has the responsibility and obligation to collect and collect packaging waste, and is divided into contaminated and uncontaminated. For households that can do this work according to standards, government and community management departments will give incentives for energy (such as electricity, heating), and families that cannot do garbage sorting as required will have more power when purchasing electricity and heat. Pay a few times more money. Environmental protection agencies and resource recovery companies regularly come to the community for recycling. If there is an urgent need for residents, a telephone call will come. In China, waste classification has not always been done well. The key is that interest-oriented issues have not been resolved. A comrade of a material recycling company told reporters: In fact, this kind of thing can be done in China. Because of the first, our labor force is cheap. There are so many laid-off workers. It is not too difficult to collect jobs that are useful for the family and others. Second, we have more packaging waste than people in the West (in developed countries, due to strict reduction restrictions, less packaging or packaging than in China), it is a great asset to pack up. For shopping bags, at present, supermarkets in Beijing alone supply 20 million tons per day. If farmers markets and community commercial outlets are added, the number may be doubled, although the average price of each plastic bag is about 5 cents (4 of which Cost, 1 point profit). With only 20 million calculations, the daily expenditure on plastic bags is 1 million yuan. One year is 365 million yuan. If half of them can be safely and healthily recycled, waste plastics recovered in a year will also be worth more than 100 million yuan. To produce 100,000 tons of vest bags per ton of plastic, only plastic bags consume over 70,000 tons of plastic per year. If half of them are recovered, it is equivalent to more than a month's output of Yanshan Petrochemical's ethylene plant. Even if recycling can only be downgraded, it is also a great saving for limited resources. Plastics, like oil, are all known to produce a little less.

The comrades of the Environment and Sanitation Bureau stated that the people’s congress deputies and members of the CPPCC National Committee proposed a proposal in the past few years regarding garbage classification in Beijing, and it has been tried out in small, high-end commercial and residential areas. However, due to ineffective measures, it was devastated. However, it is said that Shanghai Pudong has been in operation for several years and it has worked well. It seems that the key lies in interest-oriented, smooth mechanism is all-encompassing.

Regarding urban waste separation and recycling and harmless treatment, Zhang Qing, a professor of environmental sanitation engineering at Tsinghua University, said that the reason why western countries can achieve comprehensive utilization and pollution-free treatment is not only due to their advanced technology, high degree of industrialization, but also strict legislation. , And implement the reward and punishment mechanism in the implementation process. In China, there are many punitive measures and there are few incentive measures. Taking the "Solid Pollutant Emissions Disposal Act" as an example, its main content is to accompany the discharge of industrial solid pollutants, and this is a piece of civil use. In developed countries, not only the emphasis on the treatment of pollution emissions in industrial production, but also attaches great importance to the treatment of solid pollutants in the lives of residents. Others said that the classification of waste still needs improvement of the overall quality of residents and the construction of a material recycling network. In response, Teacher Zhang said that these are all essential conditions, but the problem is that we cannot wait until all the conditions are met. There may be no cure if garbage is used again. According to the comrades of the Haidian Environmental Protection Bureau, Haidian District has only produced about 1,500 tons of domestic garbage per day (half a day for Haidian residents and 3 million for migrants, 0.5 kg per person per day). These wastes are shipped on a 10-ton truck. Fully loaded with 150 vehicles, the cost of processing these wastes is very high. In previous years, the Environment and Sanitation Bureau had built a huge landfill plant in the Shangzhuang area of ​​Haidian. To protect groundwater resources, expensive polytetrafluoroethylene plastic was used as a liner around the landfill site. At that time, the construction cost was as high as 30 million. Now that the plant is almost full, it is difficult for the surrounding areas to meet the requirements of the development of the capital to find a place suitable for landfills. Therefore, it can only be transported to Yanqing which is farther away. The processing cost per ton of rubbish will be several hundred dollars.

Third, rubbish is a treasure, find in the packing waste It is understood that the recycling channels of waste materials currently remaining in China mainly include: 1. A large number of garbage pickers and the army of waste collection products walking on the streets. 2. A small amount of civilian office-assisted material recovery companies and dedicated material recovery companies. In terms of purchase prices, the latter’s price is more affordable to residents. For example, in the same newspapers, peddlers collected 0.8 yuan/kg, while Haidian District's recycling station had a price of 1.2 yuan/kg; polyester bottle vendors gave 0.1 yuan/a, while the recycling station gave 0.15 yuan/a. Picking up trash every month is not worth a few thousand dollars. If you can pack a large project, you can earn 10,000 yuan per month! According to a building developer in the Zhongguancun high-tech industrial area, packaging waste and construction waste from several dozens of buildings were packaged by foremen who then subcontracted them to their relatives and friends. Responsible for the treatment of packaging waste and the cleaning of garbage, paid for by materials. Taking the Zhongguancun Finance Building as an example, the tallest building in the area is said to be building only high-quality tiles, glass, sanitary ware, air conditioners, and Wang Jin’s carton waste. It loaded two trucks and sold tens of thousands of yuan. It is the Huangzhuang station which is the largest subway station in Asia. The Beijing subway company calculated this way. This building needs only 30,000 tons of steel for steel, and there are more than 20,000 barrels of paint and paint used in the building. The father of Yuan Mou, who works in Hubei to work in Beijing, is not unwilling to enjoy his son’s offerings. He picks up Coke bottles and cans on the street every day. He can earn more than 800 yuan in a month.
Vigorously promote the recycling of packaging waste, which is conducive to the protection of the environment, but also conducive to saving resources. Judging from the effective practices of Germany, France, the United States, Japan, and other countries since the 1990s, we can do more fully and more solidly. Authorities say. However, how to make good wishes come true. The construction of experts in the sanitation sector should take the following actions: First, legislative protection, education first. Proposed the "Packaging Act." With reference to the contents of the German "Packaging Law," Chinese law should also cover the following:

A. The packaging must meet the requirements of environmental protection, and the packaging materials used can be recycled and used; the following methods should be adopted to minimize the generation of packaging waste:
1. For the protection and sale of goods, the quantity and weight of packaging should be limited to the lowest range;
2. Where the technical conditions permit and are consistent with the relevant provisions of the goods, the packaging must be re-used;
3, if no re-use conditions, packaging materials should also be comprehensive management and recycling.

B. The recycling of packaging waste should be completed by material recycling companies, packaging material manufacturers, commercial enterprises, and community families. The second is clean production, civilized consumption, classified recycling, and comprehensive utilization. Enterprises must be made aware that pollution should be eliminated in themselves and that pollution must not be passed on to society. In order to protect the environment and save resources, packaging waste must be reduced, recycled, and harmless. Consumers must start with me and start with the family. Everyone maintains the surrounding living environment. Establish a long-term urban environmental protection system through effective interest-oriented mechanisms. Third, the state provides preferential fiscal and taxation policies and financial and technical support to enterprises engaged in environmental protection, and gives preferential treatment to material living for family members in urban communities who adhere to environmental protection responsibilities.

(Lin Jianyi)
China Packaging Industry