Supermarkets Stop Selling Plastic Bags: Who Will Have the Last Laugh, Degradable Alternatives or Paper Alternatives?

From supermarkets and shopping malls no longer providing free plastic bags, to restaurants and hotels no longer offering disposable plastic products on their own initiative, to the gradual implementation of waste sorting in various places, the concept of green environmental protection has become increasingly popular in recent years. After New Year's Day, the plastic restriction order was upgraded again. What changes will take place in our lives, and what impact will the upgraded plastic restriction order bring to the capital market?

After visits by Securities Daily reporters, it was found that many large shopping malls and chain supermarkets have stopped selling traditional plastic bags, replacing them with non-woven bags and degradable plastic bags.

Since the first version of the plastic restriction order came into effect in 2008, people have gradually developed the habit of bringing their own shopping bags. In 2016, the National Development and Reform Commission summarized the results of eight years of implementation of the plastic restriction order and found that the use of plastic bags in supermarkets and shopping malls had generally decreased by more than two-thirds, with a cumulative reduction of about 1.4 million tonnes of plastic bags, equivalent to saving 8.4 million tonnes of oil.

However, with the rapid development of the Internet, emerging industries such as express delivery and takeout make extensive use of plastic packaging products, which has diluted the effect of the plastic restriction order.

Against this background, the new version of the plastic restriction order that took effect on January 1 this year not only has a broader scope of implementation than the first version, but also sets out detailed plans for plastic substitutes, making the upgraded plastic restriction order more enforceable.

Under the strictest plastic restriction order, the traditional plastics substitution industry has exploded. Today, in the field of fast-moving consumer goods packaging, the substitution of degradable plastics is being realized; packaging fields such as meal boxes and express delivery are also larger substitution markets for degradable plastics. However, because degradable plastics have a relatively high cost and are mostly priced at around 1 yuan, promotion is still difficult at present.

Compared with the degradable plastics industry, paper products have a greater cost advantage as substitutes, and relevant listed companies have already begun preparing to expand production capacity, while many institutions are also optimistic about the industry prospects of using paper to replace plastics. A research report by Sinolink Securities holds that paper products are cheap and easy to decompose, and that recycling them can save wood, making them the best substitute. A research report by Qunyi Securities analyzes that paper products have sufficient production capacity, mature production technology and obvious cost advantages.

In addition to environmentally friendly substitution, the upgraded plastic restriction order also strengthens the sorted collection, recycling and removal of plastic waste, regulates the resource utilization and harmless disposal of plastic waste, and carries out special governance campaigns.

A research report by Wanhe Securities holds that the primary goal of the plastic restriction order is reduction at the source, along with regulating disposal methods and tightening pollutant emissions. Zhang Yansheng, chief analyst for the chemical industry at Cinda Securities, also believes that the main problem of plastic pollution is non-standard production, use and disposal, so it is necessary not only to restrict the use of traditional plastic products and sort them into trash bins, but also to let them play their final residual role.

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-357494.html