Plastics crisis: China must lead in slashing usage, boosting recycling, or world output will double by 2050, report says

China has an outsize impact as the world’s largest producer and consumer of plastics, says environmental organisation Back to Blue
On the current trajectory, the world will not reach peak plastic consumption by the end of this century, organisation says.

Business of climate change

Yujie Xuein Shenzhen

Published: 8:30am, 28 Feb 2023

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China, the world’s largest producer and consumer of plastics, needs to take the lead in tackling the global plastic-waste crisis, as consumption of the substance by major countries is on track to nearly double by mid-century, according to environmental organisation Back to Blue.

Annual consumption of plastics across G20 countries is estimated to nearly double to 451 million tonnes by 2050, compared with 261 million tonnes in 2019, said a Back to Blue report released on Monday.

On the current trajectory, the world will not reach peak plastic consumption by the end of this century, the report said.

“So far, commitments by industry, retailers and brands to reduce plastic waste are short on detail and have failed to materialise,” said Charles Goddard, editorial director at Economist Impact, which launched the initiative. “We have to slow the soaring production of single-use plastic. Only a bold suite of legally binding policies will result in plastic consumption peaking by mid-century.”

A block of compressed plastic bottles at a plastic waste centre on the outskirts of Beijing on May 16, 2018. Photo: AFP

That includes a ban on problematic single-use plastic products, the implementation of “extended producer responsibility” schemes that ask polluters to bear responsibility for the collection and treatment of their products, and a tax on virgin plastic production, according to the organisation.

“China has huge importance in driving the peak of plastic consumption, just given its sheer size,” said Gillian Parker, editor of the report.

As well as being the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, China is also the biggest generator of plastic waste. A fifth of the world’s single-use plastic came from China in 2019, according to a study released in May last year by the Australia-based Minderoo Foundation.

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Single-use plastics are made almost entirely from fossil fuels, and are eventually burned, buried in landfill sites or discarded, leaving a large carbon footprint from production to incineration. In 2020, China produced about 60 million tonnes of plastic waste, of which about 16 million tonnes was recycled, according to the China National Resources Recycling Association.

Driven by the country’s goal to peak nationwide carbon emissions by 2060, China in January 2021 issued a ban on all non-biodegradable plastic bags, straws and food containers. However, existing infrastructure cannot handle the amount of plastic waste being generated, according to Parker.

“One of the key challenges of tackling the plastic production consumption and pollution problem is to really ensure that we have adequate infrastructure to handle the plastic waste that’s been generated,” said Parker, adding that only 9 per cent of all plastics globally have been recycled.

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In addition, plastic bans must be accompanied by measures that encourage the development and scaling up of alternative technologies and alternative materials, she added.

China also lags other countries in consumer awareness and behavioural change, according to Back to Blue, coming in last place in the organisation’s ranking of 25 countries in terms of responsible consumer actions and perceptions.

“It takes deliberate changes of our habits, and part of that is educating the public in terms of the cost of plastic to society, to our health and environment,” Parker said, adding that better habits alone will not be enough. “We need a whole suite of solutions to really tackle plastic waste.”

If China implements a circular economy for plastic packaging, reducing the use of just one tonne of plastic packaging at the source can reduce about 3.5 tonnes worth of greenhouse gas emissions, while for every tonne of recycled plastic used, one to three tonnes of carbon emissions can be reduced, according to a report published in August by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.