Declare War on Takeout Plastics

宋航

The takeaway consumption

Nowadays， you can click on a food delivery app on your mobile phone， then choose a restaurant and meals and relax！ After a few minutes， the delivery man will deliver the hot meals to your hands on the electric bicycle. But it’s not just food that gets delivered – the plastic bags， boxes and cutlery that come with it are creating an environmental mess that requires consumers， restaurants and the delivery apps themselves to work together to clear it up.

Millions of takeaways are delivered to the guests every day， and millions of plastic packaging waste is also produced. My team do a research on the “Do you eat takeaway？”， and there are 63 participants. Results show that， 87.3% of them have had take-out for more than 10 times and each time， 80% will bring one to three pieces of packaging garbage， and 12.7% of them will bring four pieces. We can see that a typical takeaway includes two to three plastic lunch boxes， one to two layers of plastic meal bags， disposable chopsticks， plastic spoons， plastic soup cups， and sometimes a soft drink carton or plastic bottle.

Why people prefer takeaway

People choose takeaway for various reasons. According to our research， 49.21% of participants in our university think it’s convenient and time-saving， 33.33% choose it for satisfying an appetite for good food that are not available in canteen. Besides， 17.46% of them dislike the food in canteen and they can not cook by themselves， so they have to choose takeaway. For many overworked or merely lazy people in urban China， the leading takeout platforms Meituan and Ele.me are replacing cooking or eating out as the preferred means of obtaining nourishment. Delivery is so cheap， and the apps offer such generous discounts， that it is now possible to believe that ordering a single cup of coffee for delivery is a sane， reasonable thing to do.

Takeaway rubbish classification

Wen Zongguo， director of the Center for Circular Economy Industry Research at Tsinghua University， said that the current lunch boxes in the takeaway transaction include PP lunch boxes， PS lunch boxes， paper lunch boxes， and aluminum foil lunch boxes. The most widely used plastic products such as PP lunch boxes and PS lunch boxes account for nearly 70% of the take-away packaging in Beijing， and they are not degradable under natural conditions. Take-away garbage was pushed to the forefront of public opinion in September， 2017. The non-governmental environmental protection organization Chongqing Green Volunteers Federation sued the take-out ordering platform Baidu take-out， Meituan take-out， thinking that the defendant defaulted to distribute disposable tableware caused huge waste of resources and ecological damage， requiring the platform to allow consumers to choose "whether Requires disposable meal bags， cutlery， and charges for disposable lunch boxes. According to the Chongqing Green Alliance， the case has not been heard before the deadline for publication. "

The takeout are drowning China in plastic

Across China’s major takeout apps， orders worth a combined $70 billion were delivered in 2018， according to the analysis firm iResearch. By comparison， online food delivery sales in the United States are expected to total $19 billion this year， according to Statista. That includes 1.2 million tons of plastic containers， 175，000 tons of disposable chopsticks， 164，000 tons of plastic bags and 44，000 tons of plastic spoons. Researchers estimate that nearly three-quarters of China’s plastic waste ends up in inadequately managed landfills or out in the open， where it can easily make its way into the sea. Plastic can take centuries to break down undersea. But in China， takeout boxes do not end up recycled， by and large. They must be washed first. They weigh so little that scavengers must gather a huge number to amass enough to sell to recyclers. The astronomical growth of food delivery apps in China is flooding the country with takeout containers， utensils and bags. Scientists estimate that the online takeout business in China was responsible for 1.6 million tons of packaging waste in 2017， a ninefold jump from two years before. The total for 2018 grew to an estimated two million tons.

Harm of takeaway garbage

At present， takeaway garbage mainly consists of five kinds， plastic meal box， disposable chopsticks， food cans， foamed lunch box and plastic bags

The recycling price of foamed lunch boxes and disposable chopsticks is too low to recover the cost of recycling， combined with the fact that cleaning is difficult， so almost no one recycles them. In the process of disposal of this garbage， landfill or incineration will be used， or even discarded at will.

Landfill， as the most traditional garbage treatment technology， did not do anti-seepage treatment in the past. So， groundwater pollution was serious， and then anti-seepage treatment was done. However， secondary pollution caused by leachate， odor， methane gas， etc. still seriously affected air quality， and greenhouse effect would be produced when it was discharged into the atmosphere. What’s more， with the rapid development of urbanization， urban expansion， and population explosion in China， the past small problem of domestic waste disposal has evolved into a huge problem for urban managers at all levels. Taking Beijing as an example， at present， the annual output of garbage is about 5 million tons， and there are more than 4，000 new and old landfills scattered over 50 square meters in the outskirts of the city， forming a serious situation of "garbage surrounds the city".

In the past， people believed that incineration of garbage could reduce the volume of garbage， reduce landfill， and incidentally utilize the thermal energy generated by garbage combustion to generate electricity in the case of supplementary fuel. However， the benefits of waste incineration are not as good as some experts advocate. In fact， the so-called "environmental protection and energy saving technology" of waste incineration are long gone in any case. According to a 10-year cancer mortality survey conducted by Mr. Nooyou in Japan， the number of deaths in the interior of a garbage incineration site with a radius of about 1.2 kilometers is 1.2 times higher than that outside a radius of 1.2 kilometers. Zhou Jinfeng， member of the CPPCC National Committee， said in his proposal： "The focus of attention is the carcinogenicity and teratogenicity of dioxins produced by waste incineration. Dioxins are formed during the combustion of chlorine and hydrocarbons. They have strong carcinogenicity， reproductive toxicity， immunotoxicity and endocrine toxicity. The toxicity is 1，000 times that of potassium cyanide. The International Cancer Research Center has listed them as the first-class cause Carcinogen.

The treatment of plastic bags is even worse. Due to the large consumption and random disposal of plastic bags， the white pollution problem is becoming more and more serious. The data showed that the area covered by plastic film in China reached 500 km2， and the residual amount of agricultural film in every hectare tillage layer was up to 45 kg per year. The residual plastic film was insoluble， non-decaying， and hindered the water transport and the growth of plant roots. The wheat field which was used continuously for more than two years， remained 2.5 kg plastic fragments， and the wheat yield was reduced by 9%. In the wheat field used continuously for five years， the residual plastic film debris per mu decreased by 26% and dumped into the wheat field. Plastic products in the ocean are accumulating day by day， which poses a serious threat to the survival of marine organisms. "White pollution" seriously endangers the ecological environment and has become a global public hazard.

The only garbage that can be recycled is plastic meal boxes. The recycling price of transparent plastic meal boxes is 2 yuan per kilogram， but this price is only for clean meal boxes. The used take-out meal boxes are "not clean， can not be recycled". After recycling transparent plastic meal boxes， vendors will resell them to plastic processing plants and process them into plastic particles for other plastic products. But abandoned takeaway plastic meal boxes generally contain leftovers， oil pollution， and too many impurities， which will increase the production cost of enterprises. Therefore， plastic processing plants refuse to buy them. So even if they can be recycled， they will be treated according to the methods mentioned above.

Solutions to the problem of takeaway garbage

It is obvious that the current disposal of takeaway garbage is not regulated and will bring pressure to the environment.

Therefore， how should we deal with this increasingly serious problem？

Our government should shoulder the responsibility of guidance and supervision. First， regulations on packaging waste management should be formulated at the national level to define the responsibilities of all relevant parties in the chain of packaging design， production， circulation， recycling， treatment and utilization， including takeaway garbage， and to regulate the behavior of individuals， enterprises and governments. Secondly， government should speed up the establishment of an effective waste classification and recycling system， strengthen the classification and recycling of takeaway garbage， and make enterprises actively participate in the takeaway garbage recycling system through subsidies， so as to make more garbage become valuable. At the same time， we should intensify scientific and technological research and development， and develop low-cost and more suitable environmental protection materials to replace traditional packaging materials. He Lifeng， director of the National Development and Reform Commission （NDRC）， said that the NDRC would study and adjust the "plastic restriction order" with relevant departments， and formulate a series of related implementation plans to restrict the use of non-degradable plastic packaging in takeaway industries.Meituan， China Environmental Protection Foundation and 100 catering takeaway enterprises jointly established the Green Takeaway Alliance， and jointly issued the Green Takeaway Industry Convention to promote the use of green tableware. The company also set up a Chief Environmental Protection Officer to launch the "Castle Peak Project" to promote environmental protection issues in the takeout industry

Takeaway platform is the core link in the supply chain， first of all， the extended producer responsibility system should be implemented in the takeaway enterprises. The takeaway enterprises should bear the cost of recycling and disposal of takeaway garbage， rather than being paid by the government and the whole people. What’s more， takeaway platforms and businesses can set up recycling funds， which can be allocated to lunch box recycling or processing enterprises according to sales. Not long ago， Meituan and Eleme， added the "no tableware" option to reduce the use of disposable tableware such as chopsticks and napkins. Eleme also offer bonus points for users who choose "no cutlery" and exchange items in the Score Mall.

Individuals are the ultimate consumers of takeaway. We need to minimize unnecessary takeaway consumption， start from ourselves， start from small things， and practice green life and green consumption.

conclusion

Food delivery apps are drowning China in Plastic， so all parties should shoulder their responsibilities， not let environmental action become a decoration， put all kinds of feasible measures into practice， and promote the solution of the environmental dilemma of takeaway garbage.