China Ministry of Commerce Specifies Timeline on Plastic Ban

The use of non-degradable disposable plastic straws in the food service industry will be banned nationwide by the end of 2020. Non-degradable disposable plastic tableware will be gradually restricted by 2025.

On Aug 31st, China Ministry of Commerce published a notice on strengthening the plastic pollution control within business fields. Specified timeline and requirements related to food industry are as follows:

Plastic category	Goal of plastic ban	Areas	Deadline
Disposable plastic tableware	Ban on the use of non-degradable disposable plastic straws in the food service industry.	Nationwide	By the end of 2020
	Ban on the use of non-degradable disposable plastic tableware in eat-in locations of the food service industry.	Urbanized areas of province-level cities and above.	By the end of 2020
	Ban on the use of non-degradable disposable plastic tableware in eat-in locations.	Urbanized areas of county seats	By the end of 2025
	Consumption of non-degradable disposable plastic tableware in food delivery services decrease by 30%.	Province-level cities and above	By the end of 2025
Non-degradable plastic bag	Ban on the use of non-degradable plastic bags in shopping malls, supermarkets, takeaway food, food delivery services, and every kinds of exhibition activities.	Municipalities, provincial capital cities, cities with separate national economic and social development planning	By the end of 2020
	Standardize and impose restrictions on the use of non-degradable plastic bag in open fairs and markets.	Urbanized areas of province-level cities and above, and county seats in coastal areas	By the end of 2022
	Ban on the use of non-degradable plastic bags in open fairs and markets.	Urbanized areas of province-level cities and above, and county seats in coastal areas	By the end of 2025

As non-degradable plastic products are gradually getting banned in China, degradable plastics will become a mainstream material for food contact use. ChemLinkeds' free webinar Regulatory Compliance of Degradable Plastics for Food Contact Use in China, EU and USA on Sep 24th, 2020 will explain more details on plastics ban and compliance of mainstream degradable plastics in China. We recommend you to take part in the above webinar for more detailed information on the subject.