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According to Agence France-Presse, in order to protect the environment, the Indian government has announced a complete ban on the manufacture, storage, import, sale and use of single-use plastic products from July 1, local time. influences.
According to the report, India's "plastic ban" involves a variety of daily necessities such as plastic straws, plastic cups and cigarette packaging boxes. Relevant government departments will inspect various suppliers from July 1. Once violations of the regulations are found. , suppliers will be fined up to 100,000 Indian rupees (about 8,480 yuan), and serious offenders may face up to five years in prison.
In fact, the implementation of the "plastic ban" will obviously have a major impact on many companies. Some business owners told reporters that after the "plastic ban" takes effect, they will have to find alternatives, but the alternatives are generally relatively expensive, and they can only pass on the increased cost to consumers in the end. In addition, the "plastic ban" may also cause some people to lose their jobs temporarily, and will have a certain impact on upstream and downstream industries.
India recycles around 60% of plastic waste every year
According to India's Plastic Waste Management Rules 2018-2019 report, India recycled around 60% of plastic waste in 2018-2019, while the remaining 40% was sent directly to landfills or abandoned on the streets. And these untreated plastic waste will also enter the body of marine life and other animals, and eventually lead to the death of animals.
In order to alleviate India's environmental protection problems, Jigish Doshi, chairman of the Plastindia Foundation, an international plastics organization, said that the plastics industry is already looking for materials that can replace plastic products, but this requires a lot of research and development time. "Effort in the direction.
“It is estimated that 99% of plastic waste in India is recyclable if measures are taken to incentivize waste pickers. However, this requires sophisticated solutions and recycling technologies,” he added.
The production capacity of Indian companies is almost zero
According to reports, Indian beverage manufacturers use about 6 billion straws every year, but India's domestic paper straw production capacity is almost zero. Recently, some big straw users such as Coca-Cola and other beverage companies are still lobbying the Indian government, saying that there is no suitable straw substitute for the product, and asking the government to withdraw straws from the banned list, but it was not adopted.
The producers of straws were not prepared either. Sampat, the representative of the manufacturer and chairman of the All India Plastics Manufacturers Association, believes that for many plastic product manufacturers, changing products, modifying equipment, and training workers to adapt to the requirements of new technologies and new products, all of which are Very difficult task, impossible to complete in one year.
He estimates that the ban will have a huge impact on the more than 80,000 companies in India that make single-use plastics and lead to billions of dollars in losses.
More importantly, some local Indian media and netizens have commented that, as a key party in the formulation and implementation of the "plastic ban" policy, the Indian government is actually not fully prepared. The government stipulates that those who violate the plastic ban will be fined up to 100,000 Indian rupees (about 8,480 yuan), and serious violations may face up to five years in prison.
At present, the ban issued by the government lacks supporting measures and the practicality and consistency of policy implementation. Based on past experience and lessons, the lack of coherence between the central and local governments in India, as well as buck-passing, is one of the reasons why many similar policies have "succeeded".
For the implementation of the "plastic ban", some Indian media this year reported that the relevant government inspection team has completed a fine of 150,000 US dollars. Some large supermarkets and international chains such as KFC and McDonald's have begun to use paper straws. But the small shops in towns and villages, which account for more than 90% of India's sales channels, are mostly complaining, watching or "fighting guerrillas" with law enforcement inspectors.
At the production level, orders from a few local companies in India that can produce alternative products such as paper straws have skyrocketed recently, but it is estimated that even if they are producing at full capacity, their production capacity is not enough to meet 10% of the market demand.
In the face of such a huge contradiction between supply and demand and market prospects, the capital of all parties has not yet entered the plastic substitute industry as expected. Perhaps they are also continuing to wait and see whether the plastic ban in 2022 will become another "silent" as in the past. ending".
Analysts familiar with the local business environment in India said that for foreign investors to set up factories in India, problems such as difficult land acquisition, long-term approval of certificates, and corruption are still unavoidable problems. On the whole, the prospect of foreign investment entering India's paper straws and other industries is still unclear.
Finding alternative products is the key and core of solving the problem
Until new plastic technologies were developed, wood and bamboo were the preferred alternatives to plastic.
According to a report provided by supplier matching service Just Dial, the Indian tableware industry has seen an 80% increase in matching demand for wood dealers. Among them, the capital New Delhi and Mumbai contributed nearly 50% of the matching demand; Calcutta's demand for timber dealers increased by 22%.
With the growing demand for wood products in the plastics industry in India, it is expected to drive the development of the local wood and wood products industry. In particular, India, as a country with a population of 1.4 billion, is likely to increase its imports of wood products.
South Korea recently announced that after November 24 this year, it will ban the use of disposable items such as plastic straws. Although the ban has not yet been implemented, Korean companies have made preparations early, and many restaurants have begun to replace disposable plastic straws with environmentally friendly straws. Many straw manufacturers also see business opportunities and continue to develop straw products that are both environmentally friendly and have a better user experience.
Aiming at straw replacement business opportunities, a subsidiary of “Minying Paper” in Busan recently launched “MY STRAW” brand paper straws, which are used by many chain cafes and food companies in South Korea, and consumers can also buy them through online shopping malls. It is reported that the paper straw is made of natural pulp, without adding substances harmful to the human body, and can be 100% decomposed naturally in nature. In order to overcome the problem of being soft after being soaked in water, the quality and production process of the straw have been improved, and it can maintain its shape for a long time in the water temperature of 80 degrees Celsius. The factory plans to increase annual production of paper straws to more than 1 billion.
A company in the Jeju area of South Korea launched a barley straw made from barley straw at the end of last year. In order to reduce costs, barley straws are produced on an automated production line. The system can automatically identify and cut barley straws, and a barley straw can be produced in as little as 5 seconds. The safety of straws has also been certified by relevant authorities and plans to apply for a patent.
A Seoul-based eco-products company launched the "world's first" log straws made from logs in March. The company has set up 9 points of sale across Korea and plans to expand to 15 by the end of this year, selling in department stores, shopping websites, etc.
In addition, Korean companies have also developed green straws made of raw materials such as rice and silica gel, so that Korean consumers have ample choices.
Zimbabwe, Africa, decided to ban the use of plastic bags in December this year, which actually gave everyone a 12-month buffer period during which some solutions could be tested and used.
Epilogue
The use of plastic straws has been completely banned in China from the end of 2020, and the overall process of banning plastics is faster than that in Africa.
Up to now, it has been one year since the domestic plastic ban, and there are many production lines of environmentally friendly paper straws and PLA biodegradable straws in China.
Both single-use plastic straws and single-use plastic bags are too small to recycle. The foreign plastic ban has also provided powerful conditions for our domestic environmentally friendly plastic products to open up foreign markets. Have you found the huge hidden business opportunities?
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