IndexNo.: 66862 1405/2009-00092 Name: Investigation Report on the Implementation of Plastic Restriction Order Validity: DocumentNo.: Publisher: Taiyuan Investigation Team of National Bureau of Statistics Information Classification: Statistics/Statistical Information/Taiyuan Investigation Team of National Bureau of Statistics// Keywords: "Plastic Restraint Order" implementation investigation report acquisition method: online link acquisition public form: timely public generation date: July 9, 2009 public time limit: long-term record date: July 9, 2009 Summary: "Plastic Restraint Order" implementation investigation report according to the requirements of "Notice on Restricting the Use of Plastic Shopping Bags in Production and Sales" of the State Council General Office, June 2008 1. China's "Plastic Restriction Order" has been formally implemented, prohibiting all supermarkets, shopping malls, bazaars and other commodity retail places from providing plastic bags to consumers free of charge, and all supermarkets, shopping malls, bazaars and other commodity retail places implement the system of paid use of plastic shopping bags. This policy of ending the "free use" of plastic bags in China has aroused widespread concern in society. Now, a whole year has passed. In order to understand the implementation of the "Plastic Restriction Order" in Taiyuan, the Taiyuan investigation team of the National Bureau of Statistics recently went deep into some markets, supermarkets and non-staple food shopping malls in our city, and conducted surveys on consumers, individual merchants and market managers by filling out questionnaires and interviews. The survey results show that: 1. "Plastic Restriction Order" has been implemented well in shopping malls and supermarkets. According to the survey, since the release of the "Plastic Restriction Order", major supermarkets and shopping malls have adopted various ways to publicize the purpose and significance of restricting the use and production of plastic bags, strictly implemented the "Plastic Restriction Order", stopped providing free plastic bags, and implemented it resolutely and thoroughly; After a period of adaptation, consumers gradually developed the habit of bringing their own shopping bags, shopping baskets, environmental protection bags or buying shopping bags at that time, and some consumers took the goods away with their bare hands. In all the supermarkets and food shopping malls surveyed, the specifications of various plastic bags were publicized, including large, medium and small shopping bags, with prices ranging from 0.3 yuan -0. 1 yuan. From the major supermarkets and food shopping malls, we know that since the implementation of the "Plastic Restriction Order", the use of plastic bags has dropped significantly. According to a survey of a large supermarket, the use of paid plastic bags is now 70% less than before the plastic limit. Second, bazaars and vendors have become "plastic-limited". Compared with supermarkets, the "plastic limit order" encountered an embarrassing situation in the bazaar. It is not unimpeded in the implementation process. Due to the scattered merchants in the bazaar, there is no unified shopping exit, which is difficult to manage, especially the phenomenon that individual operators in the vegetable market provide ultra-thin plastic bags free of charge is still widespread. According to the survey of individual operators in bazaars, 90% of operators support the "plastic limit order" issued by the state. They think this is a good policy that benefits the country and the people, but at the same time, they also say that it is their helpless choice to still provide free plastic bags. For example, selling fresh food such as vegetables, fruits, meat and eggs, customers are worried about food hygiene. The food you buy can't be put in a shopping bag, so you can only pack it separately in plastic bags. In supermarkets, easy-to-pull bags are provided free of charge, but in bazaars, if plastic bags are charged, customers will be lost immediately and business will not be done. Therefore, individual merchants urgently need to produce low-cost products that can replace plastic shopping bags. Third, 7 1% of consumers support and agree with the "plastic limit order". The purpose of implementing the "plastic restriction order" is to awaken people's awareness of environmental protection, let everyone know about environmental protection, attach importance to environmental protection, and thus support environmental protection in action. Over the past year, major supermarkets, shopping malls and bazaars in Taiyuan have basically created a harmonious atmosphere of civilized shopping and environmental protection shopping; In addition, in recent years, the public's awareness of environmental protection has been continuously enhanced, and the general public and businesses have very supported and recognized the implementation of the "plastic limit order" by the state and responded positively. The survey shows that 7 1% of consumers support and agree with the "plastic limit order", 92% of consumers think that energy conservation and environmental protection are imperative, 58% of consumers use less plastic bags than before the plastic limit order, and 64% of consumers can bring their own shopping bags or use shopping baskets. Environmental protection shopping has been deeply rooted in people's hearts and gradually formed the trend of green shopping. Fourth, there are some problems that need to be solved urgently in the implementation of the "plastic limit order". 1. The implementation of the "plastic restriction order" in the bazaar is not good. The survey shows that after the implementation of the "Plastic Restriction Order", although the administrative department for industry and commerce issued a notice to restrict the use of free plastic bags to individual merchants in the bazaar and conducted inspections, individual merchants continued to provide free plastic bags to customers. The first reason is that individual merchants are worried that the government does not have unified laws and regulations and cannot implement the "plastic limit order" for a long time, which appears repeatedly; Second, if plastic bags are charged, they are worried that consumers will not shop by themselves, which will affect their business; Third, there are still mobile vendors selling unqualified plastic bags in the market. 2. Vendors who produce and operate unqualified plastic bags still exist. Although the "Plastic Restriction Order" stipulates that "the production, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bags are prohibited", there are no specific measures to reduce and curb the production of plastic bags from the source. For the ultra-thin plastic bags that have entered the market now, there is no compulsory recycling, and a large part of them are still in public use, which leads some manufacturers to secretly speculate to continue production. Mobile vendors who specialize in selling unqualified plastic bags in bazaars are still active frequently, and their sales are still unabated. For example, a shopping mall uses nearly 30,000 unqualified plastic bags every day. Although market managers have chased and blocked the mobile vendors who sell unqualified plastic bags, it is very difficult to manage illegal vendors because of their strong mobility and hidden actions. This situation is also common in other markets. 3. The environmental protection effect of "plastic restriction order" is not obvious, and the public's awareness of environmental protection is lacking. According to the survey, 45% of consumers think that the use efficiency of plastic bags has no obvious effect on environmental protection in the past year. When asked about the biggest obstacle to the implementation of the plastic restriction order, 32% consumers think that they have not developed the habit of bringing their own shopping bags; 38% consumers think there is a lack of suitable substitutes. According to the survey, although the use of paid plastic bags by consumers in shopping malls and supermarkets has obviously decreased, the use of free plastic bags in bazaars has not decreased at all. Hand-torn flat bags used to hold fresh food in supermarkets have become free substitutes for some customers because they are exempted from the "plastic limit order". The survey results show that 59% of consumers often accept plastic bags provided by merchants for free, and only 4% of consumers never accept plastic bags provided for free. Some consumers believe that after the introduction of the "Plastic Restriction Order", the government did not introduce an economical and practical shopping bag that can replace plastic bags as soon as possible, which brought a lot of inconvenience to consumers' lives, especially when buying fresh fish, shrimp, meat, vegetables and eggs in bazaars. For example, the cost of plastic bags is too high for consumers to accept. Consumers think that shopping malls should provide cheap reusable shopping bags instead of plastic bags to make up for the inconvenience caused by the absence of plastic bags. 4. There is a blind spot in supervision. Plastic bags have been used for several years and have spread to every corner of urban and rural areas. It turns out that plastic bag workshops and mobile vendors abound. Relatively speaking, the "plastic limit order" issued by the state has no corresponding provisions. The administrative departments of industry and commerce, environmental protection, etc. are weak in law enforcement and supervision of offenders. According to the survey, at the beginning of the plastic limit, most markets, like major supermarkets, used plastic bags that met the standards according to the requirements of the plastic limit. Because there are no corresponding laws and regulations, with the passage of time and the weakening of inspection, individual businesses openly use paid plastic bags to attract customers and cope with inspections, and continue to secretly use unqualified plastic bags. V. Some suggestions on further strengthening the implementation of "Plastic Restriction Order" 1 and further increasing the publicity of "Plastic Restriction Order". Through various channels and ways, we will increase the publicity of the plastic limit order, so that the deep meaning of everyone's participation, conscious plastic limit, environmental protection and resource conservation advocated by the plastic limit order will be more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, thus improving the people's environmental awareness and consciously implementing the plastic limit order. 2. Control "white pollution" from the source of production. In the survey, consumers and the heads of relevant departments agreed that the production and operation behavior of non-environmental ultra-thin plastic bag manufacturers must be severely investigated. Strengthen the supervision and inspection of plastic products manufacturers, wholesale and retail merchants, mobile vendors and users, implement the qualification system for plastic bag production, and severely investigate and punish the production, sale and use of plastic shopping bags that do not meet national standards according to law. 3. Accelerate the development of low-cost alternatives. Plastic bags that have been with ordinary people for many years are about to be laid off, and ordinary people are reluctant to part with them. Plastic bags bring a lot of convenience to their daily life. Therefore, it is suggested that the government should introduce preferential policies as soon as possible, increase capital investment, introduce more substitutes that meet environmental protection requirements, are cheap and popular with the people, and change the status quo of "plastic bags are packed in the world" as soon as possible. 4. Straighten out the regulatory relationship, strengthen supervision, and eliminate the "plastic limit" dead angle. For bazaars and other retail places without unified shopping export, the industrial and commercial departments shall supervise the market start-up units. If it is found that the merchants in the market violate the "plastic limit order", the market start-up units shall be punished, and the market start-up units shall manage the merchants. While limiting plastics, it is very important to recycle, transport, store and reuse waste plastics. In the survey, most market managers and merchants hope that relevant departments can clean up the "plastic limit order" dead angle within their respective responsibilities according to relevant laws and regulations, so that the "plastic limit order" can truly cover the whole society. 5, plastic bags should be banned, not overnight. Although plastic restrictions can reduce people's dependence on plastic bags, some consumers and operators still disdain this expenditure because of the low cost of buying plastic bags. Therefore, it is suggested that the plastic restriction order be raised to a plastic ban order. At the same time, other environmentally friendly disposable consumer goods should be further promoted. Only in this way, the implementation of the plastic restriction order will not be difficult, and it is feasible to develop a circular economy with resource conservation, energy conservation and emission reduction. In short, in the long run, to prevent ultra-thin plastic bags from entering the market, we must start from the root causes. If the "plastic restriction order" has dealt a heavy blow to the traditional plastic industry, it is better to reshuffle the plastic industry, change the competitive strategy in time, realize transformation and create better development opportunities for enterprises. The market demand of plastics industry will not shrink. On the contrary, restrictions have caused many small workshop enterprises to shut down, which just frees up more space for those enterprises that meet the production requirements. It opens up the market for environmental protection plastic bag enterprises and non-woven bag enterprises, and provides new business opportunities for scientific research units and production enterprises to find convenient and environmentally friendly substitutes that do not waste resources and have relatively low cost.