A ‘Touch Bread’ Store in Minhang District, Shanghai, China recently illegally provided consumers with non-degradable disposable plastic straws and was seized by the Minhang District Market Supervision Bureau. Law enforcement officers gave it legal education and fined it 10,000 yuan (about 1,560 US dollars). This is the first case in the country after the market supervision department’s undertaking the administrative penalty power of the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes”.
According to clues, the Minhang District Market Supervision Bureau found that a bakery operated by a food company provided consumers with disposable plastic straws for free at the front desk. According to the product label, the material of the straw is PP (ie polypropylene), which is a non-degradable plastic product. According to statistics, there are 3 packs of the above-mentioned plastic straws in the store, totaling 300.
The bakery’s illegal use of non-degradable plastic products violated the relevant provisions of the “Environmental Prevention and Control Law of the People’s Republic of China on Solid Waste Pollution” (hereinafter referred to as the “Solid Waste Law”), and was fined 10,000 yuan.
Article 106 of the “Solid Waste Law” stipulates: Failure to comply with national regulations on prohibiting and restricting the use of non-degradable plastic bags and other disposable plastic products will result in a fine of 10,000 yuan up to 100,000 yuan. After in-depth research and judgment, Chinese law enforcement officials have fully considered the awareness of the newly revised law and the knowledge and attitude of the bakery, and the principle of combining education and punishment was given a lighter punishment.
Disposable foamed plastic tableware is not easily degradable and difficult to recycle. At the end of 2020, the production and sales of disposable foamed plastic tableware have been banned in China. However, there are still some illegal vendors who secretly use “partial keywords” on e-commerce platforms to sell disposable foamed plastic tableware.
In the early stage, the Shanghai Baoshan District Market Supervision Bureau seized a merchant selling disposable foamed plastic tableware on an e-commerce platform by using online exploration and offline positioning, and found the operating merchants and law enforcement officers in its jurisdiction. 97,760 disposable foamed plastic tableware in stock were seized on the spot.
Law enforcement officers from Baoshan District Market Supervision Bureau have filed a case for investigation on the merchant and demanded that it immediately stop selling disposable foamed plastic tableware and remove it from the Internet. At the same time, they traced the source and informed the supervisory department where the manufacturer is located to seriously investigate and deal with the source of the violation.
The newly revised “Solid Waste Law” came into effect in China on September 1, 2020, clearly stipulating that “the state prohibits and restricts the production, sale and use of non-degradable plastic bags and other disposable plastic products in accordance with the law.” The Shanghai Development and Reform Commission and other 10 departments jointly issued the “Shanghai Implementation Plan on Further Strengthening the Treatment of Plastic Pollution”, namely the “New Plastic Restriction Order”, which clearly stipulated the following provisions:
From January 1, 2021, shopping malls, supermarkets, pharmacies, bookstores and other venues throughout the city and various exhibition activities are prohibited from using disposable plastic shopping bags; non-degradable plastic shopping bags are prohibited for catering packaging and takeaway services; bazaars Standardize and restrict the use of disposable plastic shopping bags (not including plastic pre-packaged bags, roll-to-roll bags, fresh-keeping bags, etc.).
From January 1, 2021, the city-wide catering industry prohibits the use of non-degradable disposable plastic straws (excluding the plastic straws that come with the outer packaging of food such as milk and beverages). Non-degradable disposable plastic tableware (excluding disposable plastic tableware for pre-packaged food) is prohibited for catering services.
Source: Poster News