On November 27, the amendments to the “Beijing Municipal Waste Management Regulations” was adopted at the 16th session of the 15th Standing Committee of the NPC. The newly revised document will come into force on May 1, 2020.
Many reports notice an item of the new official paper, namely food operators, food delivery providers, and hotels are not allowed to provide disposable goods initiative and should put up a notice. Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Management will work on the regulation of the detailed category of single-use goods and make it open to the public.
The question lies in whether the disposable paper and plastic cups widely distributed by restaurant and food delivery platforms would get included in the detailed category and receive reasonable control.
Let's take the fast-food giant KFC as an example: KFC has set up 5910 branches in China by the end of 2018. If we calculate in a conservative way that each branch store uses 1,000 disposable cups each day for beverage, then KFC would consume 6 million cups in a single day! You do the math. It is estimated that the annual amount of single-use cup consumption would reach 2 billion.
It is a little bit surprising that the household chain food business is not allowed Chinese consumers to bring their cups. The estimated 2 billion disposable paper cups in China each year take the cost of 800 thousand trees for pulping, and the amount of the greenhouse gas released from the process of cup production equals the emission load of 15,000 cars in a whole year.
Consumers don't need single-use paper cups if they have meals in the restaurant. The obsolete routine adopted by KFC and other fast-food providers is causing waste.
Therefore, over 10 environmental NGOs send a letter to Ms. Joey Wat, CEO of YumChina to request the foodservice leader to fully respect consumers' green rights.
In mid-November 2019, Economic News made a comprehensive investigation with the findings that few enterprises allow consumers to use their bottles, some of which still serve the beverage with disposable paper cups before pouring into the private bottles. The article published by the China Central Television reveals that what behind the small paper cups is the enormous environmental cost.
Ms. Joey Wat and Yum! Brands have not given any response to the appeal of ENGOs.
According to the assessment report of the social cost of Beijing urban living waste incineration published by the Renmin University, the social cost of the whole process of living garbage management including collection, transportation, transfer, burning and landfill is 2,253 yuan per ton, of which the first three links cost 1,164 yuan per ton and the incineration 1,089 yuan per ton.
Undoubtedly, disposable utensils greatly facilitate the operating of fast-food restaurants like KFC and improve profits. But the irresponsible abuse of these products is blamed on customers, leaving the burden on the public revenue.
The next May will witness the implementation of the newly revised Administrative Measures for Beijing Urban Living Garbage. The Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Management will publish the category soon. will these official papers control the unreasonable use of single-use paper cup? Let’s look forward to the outcome.
(Photo credit: CBCGDF)
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By / Wang Yanqing