China aims to reduce single-use plastics with plastic bag ban

China’s National Development and Reform Commission, along with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, has announced policies aim at restricting production, sale, and use of single-use plastic products.

The policies will be implemented over five years, with plastic bags to be banned across all cities and towns in 2022, and the production and sale of plastic bags less than 0.025mm thick also being banned.

The restaurant industry in China has been told it must reduce the use of single-use plastic items by 30 per cent, and hotels have been told they must not offer single-use plastic items by 2025.

William Liu, Senior Consultant at Wood Mackenzie, said: “This will certainly impact plastic consumption and going forward, the petrochemical industry. Polyethylene consumption will be impacted as it is the main feed to produce bags and packaging films, but as plastic bags and straws are only one application of plastic, it will not have a major impact on the oil industry.”

“The plastic bam will impact polyethylene consumption, but as it is first carried out in major cities and only applying to single-use plastic such as supermarket bags, straws, tableware, and hotel disposables, the impact would be limited in 2020.”

“But going forward, as the ban rolls out to more cities and substitute materials gain traction, China’s polyethylene consumption will be impacted, as China is the largest polyethylene importer in the world.’

“The country consumed more the 33 million tonnes of polyethylene in 2019, of which 40 per cent is imported from producers in the Middle East and other Asian countries. The single-use plastic ban might impact import volume.”