CBCGDF Makes Recommendations to “Regulations on the Management of Domestic Wastes in Hefei City” from Five Aspects
2019/9/27 14:47:00 本站

The 19th National Congress of the CPC pointed out that "the construction of ecological civilization is a millennium plan for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation". It is clear in the report that by the middle of this century, "building our country into a strong, prosperous, democratic, civilized and harmonious socialist modernization nation" has for the first time incorporated the goal of ecological civilization into the strategic goal of national modernization and written into the Constitution. And waste classification is an important link and key area of ecological civilization construction, and an important grasp of ecological civilization. General Secretary Xi Jinping paid great attention to the issue of waste reduction and again gave important instructions on waste classification in June this year. At present, first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have amended laws and legislations on domestic waste management successively. Through effective measures such as supervision and guidance, strengthening the whole process classification, strict law enforcement, and supervision, people's awareness of environmental protection has been raised, and the people have actively participated in the action of waste classification.

 

The working group of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) "Reduce and pick up plastics" has learned that the Urban Management Bureau of Hefei Municipality is publicly soliciting opinions on the Management Regulations on Classified Domestic Waste in Hefei City. The CBCGDF greatly appreciates and supports the efforts of the Urban Management Bureau of Hefei Municipality to classify and manage waste. Taking this opportunity, the CBCGDF will make the following suggestions on the revision of the Regulation:

 

1. It is recommended that the ecological civilization and green development be written into the first article of the Regulations as a guiding ideology.

 

2. It is recommended that in the Article 6 of the Regulations on the Management of Domestic Wastes in Hefei City, “a one-time bottled water shall be banned from the meetings hosted, directed or participated by the government departments.”

 

Before considering "waste classification", we should first consider "source reduction". Nowadays, plastic waste has become a major environmental challenge facing the world. And meetings are the main source of plastic waste. According to statistics, at least 17 liters of tap water are needed for each liter of bottled water. The carbon dioxide emissions from producing bottled water of the same quality are 1500 times that of ordinary tap water. This is eroding our vigorous advocacy of building a "resource-saving, environment-friendly" city concept. Therefore, the relevant departments must reduce plastic waste from the source and prohibit the meeting from issuing disposable bottled water. Organizers of the meeting may mark "please bring your own cup" on the agenda of the meeting.

 

3. It is recommended that “the green consumption right of consumers should be respected. For customers who eat in the store, the merchant should ask the customer whether to use reusable tableware”.

 

Green consumption, also known as "sustainable consumption", is a general term for all kinds of consumption behaviors and consumption modes with the basic connotation of beneficial health and protection of ecological environment, starting from meeting the needs of ecological environment protection, realizing the harmonious coexistence between human and nature, and promoting the goal of sustainable development of the United Nations. With the development of ecological civilization, more and more citizens have the consciousness of green consumption, but they have not been given the right of choice of green consumption by businessmen. At the same time, due to the lack of relevant laws and regulations to clearly define the environmental responsibility of enterprises, resulting in enterprise inaction and a large number of unnecessary waste.

 

4. It is recommended to make relevant provisions in the regulations for “plastic pollution”.

 

Plastic pollution has become a global environmental challenge, and the United Nations will establish 2018 as a "plastic battle, quick decision" year. At the 10th meeting of the Central Committee for Comprehensive and Deepening Reform just held on September 9, the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution" was deliberated and adopted, which calls for an active response to plastic pollution and effective and orderly control of plastic pollution.

 

5. A requirement should be explicitly added to the regulations: “Primary and junior high schools may not force students to wrap their books with plastic covers.”

 

Compulsory wrapping of plastic book covers in primary and secondary schools is common throughout the country. After three years of investigation, I will find that there is a large number of use of plastic book covers in primary and secondary schools around the country, especially in the starting of school, with conservative estimates of the annual use of hundreds of millions. Plastic book covers are not only directly related to the global pollution control and the construction of green schools, but also drive the large-scale chemical production to meet the requirements of schools, which indirectly aggravates the safety problems such as the explosion of chemical plants. Stopping using plastic book covers in primary and secondary schools is a powerful measure to practice ecological civilization. Increasing this content can reduce the amount of plastic pollution from the source and reduce the unnecessary plastic pollution brought by the school system.

 

It is of great significance to incorporate the above suggestions into the Management Regulations on Classified Domestic Waste in Hefei City, which will effectively solve the problems in the process of waste classification and practice ecological civilization.


Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/9923.html


By / Li Xue