China is the largest developing country in the world. In order to achieve sustainable development, China takes the development of circular economy as a major strategy for national economic and social development. China attaches great importance to the control of plastic pollution, and has always gone all out to fully implement the concept of circular economy. With the depth and breadth of the entire chain, it controls disposable plastic products that are easy to leak into the environment at the source of production and consumption, and at the end of recycling and disposal of waste plastics. Increase recycling efforts to effectively prevent plastic waste from leaking into the environment, build the world's most complete plastic circular economy development system, and achieve remarkable development results, and become a responsible big country in global plastic pollution control.

China is the first country in the world to restrict disposable plastic products.

As early as 2001, China issued a policy to stop the production of disposable foam plastic tableware. In 2008, China completely banned the production, sale and use of plastic shopping bags with a thickness of less than 0.025 mm, and implemented a system of paid use of plastic shopping bags in all supermarkets, shopping malls, bazaars and other commodity retail places. The same policy was implemented in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and some states in the United States in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2017 respectively, basically lagging behind China by about ten years. In 2020, China will introduce a new plastic pollution control policy, which will expand the source reduction policy to more disposable plastic products such as the addition of plastic microbeads and the elimination of disposable non-degradable plastic straws, covering a larger area than most countries and regions.

China is currently the country with the most effective recycling of waste plastics in the world.

China has long realized that plastics are as recyclable as steel, non-ferrous metals and other materials from the perspective of the material itself. When waste plastics are effectively recycled and disposed of, there will be no plastic pollution problems. Therefore, plastic itself cannot be equated with pollutants. The essence of plastic pollution is the environmental leakage of plastics after they are used and discarded.

China seizes the key link of environmental leakage at the end of plastic pollution and increases the recycling of plastic waste. As early as 1989, China issued a policy document to strengthen the management of plastic packaging waste on key traffic arteries, river basins and tourist attractions to prevent plastic packaging waste from accumulating in rivers, lakes and along the coast. Through years of hard work, China has gradually built a waste plastic recycling system covering the whole society. According to the calculations of relevant industry associations, in 2021, China's waste plastic recycling volume will be about 19 million tons, and the material recycling rate will reach 31%, which is 1.74 times the global average level, and 100% domestic material recycling will be achieved. In the same period, the recycling rates of local materials in the United States, the European Union, and Japan were only 5.31%, 17.18%, and 12.50%, respectively. In addition, the removal rate of domestic waste in China's cities and towns has basically reached 100%, and the coverage of domestic waste disposal systems in administrative villages has exceeded 90%. Actively promote the energy recovery and energy utilization of plastic waste that cannot be used as a material for the time being. The rate reached 45.7%, which is also in the forefront of the world.

China is not only working hard to solve its own problems, but also making positive contributions to global plastic pollution control.

China adheres to the local waste plastic recycling and disposal system, and has better solved the plastic pollution problem in the country. It has never transferred plastic waste to other countries and regions, and has also helped other countries and regions actively deal with the threat posed by plastic waste. . In the 10 years from 2011 to 2020 alone, China has achieved a total of 170 million tons of various types of waste plastic material recycling, becoming the world's largest single economy for waste plastic recycling, and has become the backbone of leading the development of the global plastic circular economy. As the co-lead country, China took the lead in revising the Plastic Waste Amendment to the Basel Convention to promote the process of international plastic pollution control. Since 2019, the Chinese government has continued to increase the training of developing countries on plastic pollution response capabilities, including plastic circular economy and plastic pollution control in foreign aid training programs, and has trained more than 1,000 governments from more than 30 developing countries. Officials, making positive contributions to the improvement of plastic pollution control capabilities in various countries.

China's experience in dealing with plastic pollution will provide some reference for global plastic pollution control.

Through the practice of plastic pollution control in China, it can be seen that: first, plastic as a material itself cannot be equated with pollutants, and the essence of plastic pollution is the environmental leakage of plastic; As an important means of plastic environmental leakage, China restricts the addition of plastic microbeads and the production of specific disposable non-degradable plastic products at the source, promotes the replacement of disposable plastic products in the consumption process, strengthens the recycling and disposal of plastics after waste, and builds a plastic that covers the whole life. The periodic governance system establishes a responsibility sharing and collaborative governance system among producers, users, and emitters to ensure the effectiveness of plastic pollution control; The key link, because it can directly prevent plastic waste from leaking into the environment, is the most priority measure to be taken in plastic pollution control; fourth, the use and promotion of various alternative products need to carry out scientific comparative analysis, and the technologies of various alternative products Feasibility, economy, generalizability, applicability, comprehensive environmental impact, etc. need to be scientifically compared and analyzed, and advanced in an orderly manner on this basis, otherwise it will not only be of no benefit to plastic pollution control, but will also damage the economic system and ecological system. Bring new chaos.

At present, the issue of plastic pollution has become the focus of global environmental concerns, which poses a great challenge to global sustainable development and has become a common issue faced by various countries and regions. In the future, China will always uphold the concept of "a community with a shared future for mankind", adhere to the principle of "common but differentiated", continue to be a leader and contributor to global plastic pollution control, and work together with other countries and regions to promote the construction of plastics and people and nature. A new development pattern of harmonious coexistence. (Zhang Deyuan, Associate Researcher, Institute of Economic Reform, Institute of Macroeconomics, National Development and Reform Commission)