Gansu Issues Waste Agricultural Film Remediation Notice, Tightening Thickness and Recycling Standards

The rise of plastics opened the door for packaging expansion, and their lightweight, easy-to-use nature has secured their place as the second-largest packaging material. At the same time, growing environmental awareness has made plastic waste recycling a major factor in the sector's sustainable development. To facilitate smoother recycling, the General Office of the Gansu Provincial Government recently issued the Notice on Concentrated Remediation of Residual Waste Agricultural Film.

Making plastic packaging more environmentally friendly has become an urgent question for the plastics industry. From an editorial perspective, environmental performance should not be judged only at the use stage; it must cover the entire life cycle of the packaging material. For today's plastics sector, the most serious pollution pressure still sits at the recycling stage.

China is currently a major global producer of agricultural film. Tightening land resources and rising food demand have made agricultural film increasingly attractive, yet pollution from the material remains a serious concern. On November 19, the General Office of the Gansu Provincial Government issued the Notice on Concentrated Remediation of Residual Waste Agricultural Film, setting strict requirements for agricultural film producers, downstream distributors, and farmers regarding film thickness and quality.

On November 26, the sixth meeting of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress heard an explanation from the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the Provincial People's Congress on the Draft Regulations on the Recycling and Utilization of Waste Agricultural Film in Gansu Province.

To block ultra-thin film that fails national technical standards from entering the agricultural input market at the source, Article 7 of the Draft Regulations states that producing and selling plastic film for agricultural production with a thickness below 0.008 mm and a weather resistance period of less than 12 months is prohibited. The use of agricultural film thicker than 0.01 mm and meeting other national quality and technical standards, as well as agricultural greenhouse film thicker than 0.12 mm, should be promoted. For agricultural film produced under unified government procurement or other subsidies, the thickness must not be less than 0.01 mm.

In 2012, China was the world's largest consumer of agricultural film, accounting for 61% of the market. Increasingly severe food demand, combined with the continued advance of high-tech agricultural technology, is driving the entire industry. The report predicts that China will maintain a compound annual growth rate of 7.6% per year over the next six years, becoming the fastest-growing country.

Reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-361837.html