Contamination and recycling of product packaging waste

With the continuous and rapid economic growth of our country, the people’s income level has been continuously improved, and consumer products processed and produced by industrialized production methods have increasingly entered people’s lives. This has enriched and facilitated people’s lives while also generating a large amount of packaging waste. Objects, artificially created a lot of domestic garbage. These household wastes occupy cultivated land, pollute the environment, and cause a lot of waste of resources. It is time for attention and non-resolve.

1 Serious adverse effects of urban waste on the ecological environment

Over the past 20 years since China’s reform and opening up, the ecological environment has been increasingly valued. The urban afforestation rate has increased from 28% in 1993 to 40.5% in 2003.[1] However, the ecological environment of the city is still not optimistic. There are 668 large and medium-sized cities in China. Compared with developed countries, China has a large population and a large population. The waste generated by people's daily lives is very large and concentrated. A large part of this waste is packaging waste. According to statistics, China produces nearly 150 million tons of municipal waste each year, 80% to 90% of which come from large and medium-sized cities. However, the current rate of urban waste disposal in China is only about 50%[2]. The proportion that truly meets the requirements of harmless treatment standards In 2004 it was only about 20% [3]. The amount of waste stored in China has reached 6.5 billion tons [4]. Urban waste increases at an average rate of 8.98% per year. The annual growth rate of a few cities such as Beijing has reached 15 to 20%. More than 200 cities are surrounded by garbage. [2]. The main components of urban waste are organic matter such as kitchen waste, sawdust, etc.; inorganic substances such as coal ash, brick and tile, etc.; and waste products such as paper, plastic, and metal. It is estimated that about one-third of the world's annual waste is packaged waste [5]. China is no exception. A large amount of packaging waste aggravates the environmental burden. Urban waste, including packaging waste, will produce the following ecological environment: Several aspects of adverse effects.

1.1 Intensifying Urban Ecological Pollution

At present, the garbage disposal in most cities uses simple methods such as open-pit storage and landfilling in natural gullies. This method of disposing of garbage will inevitably pollute the urban ecological environment. First, the pollution of water bodies. Stacked garbage or landfilled garbage dumps are not subject to any treatment measures that are isolated from the water. The toxic substances pass through the rainwater and snow water into the water body and pollute the water and groundwater resources. According to a sample survey conducted by the National Environmental Protection Agency in 2002, 86% of the groundwater at the site of the National Urban Solid Waste Landfill exceeds the national water pollution standards [3]. The second is contaminated soil. Heavy metal elements such as As, Pb, Cd, Hg, and Cu in the garbage will enter the soil and will be absorbed by agricultural crops, ultimately harming human health. The third is polluting the air. The rubbish piled up in the periphery of the city will generate a large amount of toxic gas. Some cities will burn garbage in the open air and produce two dioxin and other toxic gases, making the already polluted city air more dirty.

1.2 Occupies a large amount of arable land, making it unprofitable

Urban waste is piled up in the urban-rural area around the city. China's current urban waste accumulation amounted to 6.5 billion tons, covering more than 50,000 hectares [4], and it is expanding every year. Whether it is waste dumps or landfills, it has taken up arable land, making the country where the area of ​​arable land is too small even more stretched. In addition, no trees can be planted in places where rubbish is piled up, which further deteriorates the urban ecological environment.

1.3 Stinking smells, there are still leftover foods in the garbage such as food packaging bags and packaging boxes where mosquitoes and flies have been thrown away in large numbers. After these mild foods become moldy, they are stinking and smelly, and are the habitat of rats. Mosquito breeding place. As a result, the human waste generated by humans is fattening rats and mosquitoes, which in turn are an enemy of humans, attacking humans, contagious diseases, causing human suffering, and destroying the peaceful environment of human life.

1.4 Give Some Lawyers an Opportunity

As people's living standards have increased, more and more emphasis has been placed on increasing the nutrition of foods, and the food residues in the packaging of waste foods are also rich in nutrition, resulting in eutrophication of urban waste. At the same time, it also gave opportunity to some illegal people. They used the junkyard as a place for raising pigs, chickens and other livestock and poultry, used the junk as feed, and sold the pigs and chickens that survived the junk to the city. Slaughter workshops, and then flow to the market.

1.5 Secondary pollution of product waste

Garbage in urban dumps is almost as much as the rich commodities on the market. Because they have not been dealt with in a timely manner, some people who have lost their lives or scavenged people are searching for “treasures” in the garbage and picking up some so-called available items, such as old clothes, old syringes, disposable chopsticks, plastic bags, food packaging boxes. Such as, without any disinfection and reproduction of production, through illegal means to the market, resulting in secondary pollution, endangering the health of consumers.

2 The recycling of product packaging waste can produce huge economic and social benefits

The main components of urban waste in China are coal ash, paper, plastics, and metals. A considerable portion of paper, plastics, and metals comes from the packaging of products. It is completely recyclable, and can save a lot of resources and energy, resulting in huge economic benefits. And social benefits. For example, in urban garbage, the proportion of waste paper (including packaging paper) is 2% to 12%. Using 1 ton of waste paper, 800 kg of paper can be re-used, which can save 4 cubic meters of wood, save 400 degrees of electricity, and save money. Coal 400 kg, saving 30 tons of water; glass products accounted for about 1.87% of the proportion, the use of 1 ton of broken glass reprocessing can save 1 ton of coal, save 400 degrees of electricity [6]. China produces 5 million tons of plastic garbage each year. Only about 30% of them are recycled by self-employed individuals, and resources worth 5 billion yuan are wasted.[7] These data show that product packaging waste recycling can produce huge economic benefits, and its social benefits are mainly reflected in the reduction of pollution to the ecological environment, help to maintain the urban ecological balance, save a lot of resources for the society, delay the depletion of natural resources in China speed.

Some developed countries have already successfully implemented the recycling of waste, especially the recycling of product packaging waste, which has created enormous economic benefits. For example, half of Finland’s waste is reused. In 2001, the recycling rate of waste paper reached 70%; Japan’s copper recovered from waste products accounted for 80% of the national copper demand[8], and the recycling rate of waste packaging was 78%. %, more than 50% of papermaking raw materials come from the recycling market; France's waste packaging recycling rate is 57%, and 90% of corrugated paper is produced from recycled waste paper; the recovery rate of aluminum cans in the United States is 95%[5]. In the United States, there are three waste disposal companies that have taken more than 15% of the country's waste disposal capacity and achieved annual benefits of more than US$2 billion [8]. All these show that developed countries have achieved very good results in the recycling of product packaging waste, and have produced huge economic and social benefits, which is worthy of our country to emulate.

3 Several key issues to be solved for product packaging waste recycling The recycling of product packaging waste is a good thing that benefits the country, the people, and the benefit of the next generation, but the enthusiasm of the people cannot be mobilized, and there are very few participants. Even if someone participates in it, it cannot persist forever. The reason is that several key issues have not been resolved.

3.1 The absence of local government functions China’s reform and opening up has gradually shifted from a planned economy system to a market economy system. At the end of the last century and the beginning of this century, China has intensified enterprise reform and established a modern enterprise system. To achieve the separation of government and enterprises, the government no longer directly intervenes in the business activities of the enterprises, but adopts various policies and laws and regulations for macro-control, so that the enterprises have the right to operate independently, operate independently, self-financing, self-discipline and self-development, and many companies With the joint-stock reform, the company is more flexible. However, some companies have ignored the government's policies and laws and have made one of the white pollution sources — disposable plastic foam lunch boxes. In addition, the output of plastic bags in our country is getting higher and higher, more and more enterprises are producing, and the prices of plastic bags are getting cheaper and cheaper, causing people to discard them at will. Plastic bags are heavily contaminated and discarded after use become contaminants. Although the state has made huge investments in the treatment of environmental pollution, laws and regulations concerning environmental protection have also been introduced, and some local governments do not pursue investigations of companies that produce pollution sources, and do not give severe punishment or even allow them to let them go. This is the result of the absence of local government functions. What is the reason for this? Because these enterprises that produce plastic lunch boxes and plastic bags can pay taxes, this is a contribution to local finance; it can solve the employment problems of local residents, relieve the pressure on the government to solve the employment problems of residents, increase local GDP, and make local governments Achievements improved. From the analysis of these reasons, it is not difficult to find that this is the local government’s local protectionism.

To solve the problem of the absence of local government functions, the following countermeasures must be taken: (1) Raise the awareness of government officials of the dangers of local protectionism. Organize government officials to train and learn, establish a national chess game, raise awareness, raise awareness, and consciously give up local protectionism. (2) Implement accountability for government officials. It does not do a good job in its own duties within the scope of its responsibilities. It must take responsibility for dereliction of duty, so as to improve the responsibility of government officials. (3) Implementation of the inter-provincial exchange system for government officials. Government officials have been working in one place for a long time, and it is very easy to breed local protectionism. If government officials exchange levels across provinces and exchange them once every four years, they can broaden their horizons of work, break down various network of relationships, and help promote government officials. Do your best to work. (4) The National People's Congress should strengthen and improve the legislative work on administrative inaction. Government officials who do not perform administrative duties are held accountable according to law. (5) Strengthen the central government's supervision over local governments. Every year, the central government dispatches an inspection team to check the work of local government officials from time to time, urges local governments to implement the policies and requirements of the central government, and implements government affairs in accordance with the law.

3.2 The legal system is not perfect and the law does not follow the problem

The pollution of urban garbage is serious, and a large number of packaging wastes aggravate the environmental pressure and cause great harm, which must be dealt with according to law. The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution Caused by Solid Waste, which was passed by the National People’s Congress on April 1, 1996, is China's first statute on the prevention and control of environmental pollution caused by solid waste. It was reviewed and approved by the National People’s Congress on December 29, 2004. The amendment to the Act was implemented on April 1, 2005. From the first promulgation and implementation of the Act to the first revision, nine years have passed and many new problems have appeared. From May to June 2003, investigation teams established by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress investigated and confirmed the existing problems: It is the continuous growth of solid waste production. Urban domestic waste increases by 4% annually, and industrial solid waste increases by 7% annually. Second, solid waste disposal capacity is insufficient. Third, the standard for the disposal of solid waste is low, and the management is not strict. The harmless disposal rate of urban living garbage is only about 20%. Fourth, the problem of solid waste pollution in rural areas has become increasingly prominent; Fifth, new types of waste products such as waste electrical appliances continue to grow [9]. These problems are objectively existing facts and illustrate that our country’s legal system is not perfect, and it also shows that the lawlessness of many parts of the country is still serious. Although the law has been amended to be more complete and sound in varying degrees, the issue of non-compliance cannot be solved through amendments to the law because it involves management systems outside the law and people's ideas.

To solve the problem of unsound product legal system and laws that do not comply with the law, the following countermeasures must be taken: (1) The central government mobilizes relevant national law agencies to continue to observe and investigate the effect of the revised law, find legal loopholes, and set up information. Feedback channels, such as the use of media channels and Internet channels, set up media and Internet columns to discuss the law and reflect such information to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. (2) The government has organized relevant personnel to translate the laws and regulations of developed countries into Chinese.