4.5 billion writing instruments are used in one year. Secretary-general of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) talked about Technical Requirements for Environmental Labeling products: national environmental protection standards should be seriously considered
2020/1/21 14:53:00 本站

Since the 1980s, the global environmental crisis has become increasingly prominent. Environmental problems such as climate change, excessive consumption of resources and energy, and lack of water resources have brought serious threats and challenges to human survival and development. The establishment of a green development mode guided by Xi Jinping's ecological civilization thought and taking circulation, efficiency, cleanliness and green as its basic characteristics is the only way for us to turn from the industrial civilization to the ecological civilization. Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China organized compile the national environmental protection criteria Technical Requirements for Environmental Labeling Products (Draft for comments), which is open to the units for comments.

 

There is a lot of waste of writing instruments. Nowadays, most people use disposable writing instruments. Except for a few metal materials such as beads, the other parts are almost made of plastic, so the space for writing instruments to reduce plastic is very large. According to the data of China Writing Instrument Association, China's consumers used 4.5 billion writing instruments in 2016, which is equivalent to more than 3 writing instruments consumed by each person in the country in one year. It has become a daily practice in many units nowadays. This invisible waste and pollution are shocking.

 

Nowadays, as a social product, a writing instrument is regarded as an environmental label to promote and guide writing instrument manufacturers to consider the environment, which is very in line with the idea of ecological civilization. Zhou Jinfeng, Secretary-General of CBCGDF, said it was very gratifying, but after reading through the draft, the content was slightly insufficient. Therefore, Dr. Zhou Jinfeng suggested,

 

First, there is no public participation. Most of its designated lists are writing instrument manufacturers and some environmental protection departments, but they are not open to the public.

 

Second, since it's an environmental label, we can't simply think about it from a chemical point of view. Of course, chemistry is a very important part of the environment, and it is a very good idea to take this into account. But at the same time, we should also consider whether a part of recyclable materials is used as raw materials, which will effectively promote material saving and recycling. If the demand for recyclable materials is driven, there will have a driving force for waste classification.

 

Third, whether to set the maintenance. We have a lot of things that can be maintained and used. A large proportion of things can be maintained in our hands. Environmental protection products must be environmentally friendly throughout their life cycle, and their production and operation enterprises must have key mechanisms such as maintenance, recycling, and reuse. We should advocate for the opening of the second-hand recycling mechanism. In the design process, writing instruments should be considered to be separated, classified, etc., so as to carry out waste classification and recycling.

 

Fourth, user education. At the level of writing instrument packaging, we need to have ideas to advocate saving and environmental protection. In addition, efforts should also be made to reduce packaging, increase durability and use-value, and improve efficiency, so that the criteria have a real environmental significance, and enterprises have a real environmental contribution and bear environmental responsibility.

 

Finally, it is suggested that the content of "Xi Jinping's ecological civilization thought" should be included in the draft. Today we have reached a time when industrial civilization is unsustainable, and we need to fundamentally change our production and lifestyle. The requirement of this civilization is not only the requirement of human habitat but also the requirement of human sustainable development. Under the guidance of ecological civilization, building a beautiful China and a community with a shared future for mankind requires such the criteria of environmental labeling products, not only from the perspective of pollution, chemical precipitation and user safety. Of course, these contents are also very important.


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(Photo credit: MEE)


Original Chinese aritcle:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/10969.html


By / Li Xue