Is There a Promising Future for PLA Industry with the New Plastic Restriction Order Issued?

On January 19, 2020, the national development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of ecological environment issued a new version of the plastic restriction order "opinions on Further Strengthening the control of plastic pollution". According to the preliminary statistics on the production capacity of major domestic biodegradable plastics enterprises, the annual production capacity of biodegradable plastics in China will be more than 520000 tons in 2019, and it is expected to double in 2021.

New Plastic Restriction Order Issued

In 2008, the State Council issued the "notice on restricting the production, sales and use of plastic shopping bags". From June 1, the production and sales of ultra-thin plastic bags were prohibited nationwide, and the paid use system of plastic bags was implemented. It is the first time to implement the "plastic ban" policy nationwide, but the effect is limited due to the restriction of ultra-thin shopping bags.

In November 2015, China's Jilin province became the first province to completely ban non degradable plastic bags and plastic tableware;

In April 2018, Henan province gradually banned the use of disposable plastic products;

In February 2019, the Hainan provincial government issued the implementation plan for banning the production, sale and use of disposable non degradable plastic products in Hainan Province, becoming the third province to ban plastic products.

On January 19, 2020, the national development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of ecological environment issued a new version of the plastic restriction order - "opinions on Further Strengthening the control of plastic pollution". Compared with the old version, the new version plans three stages of implementation goals of plastic restriction, as well as the use of plastics in four key areas (non degradable plastic bags, disposable plastic tableware, disposable hotel supplies, rapid plastic packaging) Line restrictions.

Biodegradable Materials Usher in the Market

Since 2011, the developed countries of EU have issued a series of policies to restrict the use of disposable plastic products. In October 2018, the European Union adopted a proposal to ban the use of disposable plastics, known as the "most plastic ban in history", quantifying future planning objectives to ensure that all plastic packaging on the EU market can be reused or recycled by 2030.

Thanks to the plastic ban policy, Europe has always been a large global consumer market for biodegradable plastics. Most of the domestic biodegradable plastics are exported to Europe.

According to IHS data, in 2018, the demand for biodegradable plastics in Western Europe accounted for 55% of the world's, and Asia and Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) accounted for about 25% of the global consumption, of which the demand for degradable plastics in China accounted for about 11.7%. In January 2020, with the release of the new plastic restriction order, China is expected to become a new large-scale global consumer market for biodegradable plastics in recent years.

According to the data of European bioplastics Association, the global annual production capacity of bioplastics will be 2.1144 million tons in 2019, including 1174000 tons of biodegradable plastics, an increase of 9.0% over the same period of last year. Asia is an important large-scale bioplastics production region, accounting for 45% of the world's total.

According to the preliminary statistics on the production capacity of major domestic biodegradable plastics enterprises, the annual production capacity of biodegradable plastics in China will be more than 520000 tons in 2019, and it is expected to double in 2021.

Whether the new "plastic restriction order" will not only crack down on disposable plastic products, but also increase support for degradable plastic products has become the focus of the industry.