Plastic packaging and single-use shipping bags will be banned in China by 2025. The country is banning single-use plastic, putting the focus on retail, e-commerce and logistics.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), responsible for China's macroeconomic planning, announced this week that companies in the supermarket industry, logistics, warehousing and e-commerce courier services "will be encouraged to actively promote recyclable and foldable packaging products". They will be given until 2025 to find alternatives to disposable plastic.
Disposable plastic bags will already be banned in 2022, as will plastic straws. With the measure, China, the largest producer of plastics, aims to combat pollution of parks, forests, rivers and eventually seas and oceans. According to the World Economic Forum, of all waterways, the Yangtze River carries the largest amount of plastic into the sea.
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