As its landfills pile up at an outrageous pace, Beijing appears to be doing all it can to turn over a new (biodegradable) leaf on plastics and waste. In the midst of a long-coming overhaul of the city’s garbage system that will require residents to sort their recycling, or pay a hefty fine, a new rule has now passed the municipal legislature that takes aim at plastic-reliant waimai and other e-commerce deliveries.
The rule, which will go into effect next May, stipulates that businesses who provide food delivery services must not automatically include disposable chopsticks, spoons, or forks with the delivery, and encourages them to use environmentally friendly packaging, according to People’s Daily. The rule states that repeat offenders may face a fine if they fail to comply.
Where does your waimai container end up?
All of that may sound like an environmentalist’s dream come true, but not everyone is satisfied. Damin Tang, a plastic campaigner for Greenpeace, told the Beijinger that he has mixed feelings about the move. “It certainly ticks a lot of the right boxes… but the regulation is also weak and unclear in some respects,” says Tang. “It says e-commerce companies ‘should’ use couriers with ‘environmentally-friendly’ packaging, but without mandatory requirements or definitions for packaging, this regulation has no teeth.”
On the other hand, Tang says he is happy to see that reduction is being prioritized over waste sorting. Recycling can help to slow landfill growth, but many plastics don’t get recycled even when sorted correctly, and most can only be recycled once. He does note, however, that the new policy will improve waste-sorting practices, by establishing a monitoring system that should ensure garbage does not get mixed together during transportation.
If the new rule were to prove effective, it could put a huge dent in plastic waste. About 500,000 waimai orders are placed each day in Beijing, and at just one plastic container per order, switching to a more sustainable option would do away with over 180,000,000 plastic containers per year.
READ: Beijing Announces Long Overdue Trash Sorting Rules
Images: SFToday; Foodservice Consultant, Nikkai Asian Review, China Daily
