New report says China will get tough on pollution with new packaging recycling legislation

According to a new Market Report, the Chinese government is about to introduce far reaching environment legislation requiring all product packaging materials to be recyclable or recoverable some plastic materials will be banned altogether. This exclusive report from PackWebasia.com analyses the implications and opportunities for the packaging industry.

In response to bad publicity over Product Recalls, China's Central Government is about to introduce sweeping legislation to govern all aspects of the packaging, waste and recycling industries which when passed will be amongst the toughest in the world, according to a new report from PackWebasia.com.

According to the report's author, Stuart Hoggard, "China’s new environmental legislation will have far reaching implications for the entire Packaging Supply Chain: Brand Owners, Printers, Converters, Suppliers of Equipment and Consumables, Materials Manufacturers, Recycling and Collection".
The new Law, which is now in the final draft and discussion stage will be based on the principal that “the entity that pollutes shall control the pollution, the entity packaging the products shall be responsible for disposal of abandoned packaging materials” - effectively requiring the brand owner to take back post consumer waste.

Key Provisions which affect industry:

• All packaging should be either recyclable or degradable
• All packaging MUST be recoverable
• Packaging reduction & light weighting becomes mandatory
•Research into materials and technology incentivised
•Waste recovery & recycling systems to be established
• Transport and storage of recyclable and recycled materials are to be regulated
•Recycled Material Trading system to be set up to ‘market’ conditions
•A detailed ‘Catalogue’ of Materials and Production Processes has been catagorised into Encouraged, Restricted and Obsolete (Banned).

Enforcement
According the Stuart Hoggard "Inter-agency enforcement teams are to be set up.
Penalties for infringement are specified, ranging from 1 million RMB for minor infringements up to compulsory closure and fines of five-times the clean-up costs for major polluters even criminal proceedings can be brought against Companies and individual directors personally in serious cases".

Human Rights Provision
"There is even a Whistle blower clause" says Hoggard, "It is possibly the first instance in China of specific rights being given to the public, Whistle-blower provisions give the right to report companies for wasting resources, damaging environment and excessive packing".
Whistle-blowers are to be given protection and even rewarded, a marked contrast to the past when whistle-blowers were vilified and even jailed for speaking out, notably during the SARS epidemic.

Funding
The sweeping environmental measures will require massive funding, establishing recovery and recycling systems and facilities across the country, this will be funded by a mixture of Government investment, grants, subsidies & tax incentives which are to be allocated from both Central and Local governments.

A Global Impact
This is probably the most comprehensive environmental legislation which, when passed WILL impact on the global packaging industry, leading to both:
•A Decline in some sectors reliant on Restricted or Banned materials/processes
•AND Opportunities for other sectors engaged in biodegradables, equipment manufacturing to re-tool industry, waste collection and recycling.
The Export markets are not exempt from the law, meaning that materials, such as Styrene which are to be banned, will not be permitted in any form of product packaging exported from China whether permitted in the destination country or not.

About this report
This report: China’s New Packaging Legislation,METHOD FOR ADMINISTRATION & RECYCLING PACKAGING MATERIALS - An Executive Analysis & Commentary is an analysis of the full text of China's new law obtained from sources inside the country exclusively by EP Resources Pte Ltd, publisher of PackWebasia.com.

Size: 96page
Format: pdf download only
From: www.packwebasia.com
Cost: US$1,500

This analysis places the new law in the contest of China's rapid development and the impact on the packaging industry.
Key contents are:
• Executive Summary - an overview of the legislation
• Introduction to China’s current Packaging Industry which will be impacted
• Industry Structure – how the market economy has changed the industry structure
• Major End-use markets
• Data:24 charts and tables of China’s packaging materials, packaged product production output, end-use, export etc
• Analysis of the provisions contained in the legislation
• Explanatory notes on the specifics as they relate to China, and the wider context of global packaging/recycling
•Impact assessment for key Stake Holders: Brand Owners, Retail, Package Manufacturing, Equipment supply.
•The Annotated English translation FULL Text of the Method for Administration on Recycling Packaging Materials legislation
• The Original Chinese text of the draft law.
• The FULL Catalogue of Encouraged, Restricted and Obsolete (Banned) materials and processes.

About the Author
Stuart Hoggard has spent 12 years as a specialist publisher of packaging information and writes a monthly column; “Asiaphile” syndicated in international publications: Plastics In Packaging (UK), Asia Pacific Packaging (Australia) and Packaging & Print Media (S Africa)
Author of: The Future of Packaging in China: Strategic Five-year Forecast published by PIRA (Packaging Industry research Association) 2004/5
He is publisher of PackWebasia.com the online resource for the packaging supply chain and a member of the International Packaging Press Organisation (IPPO).