Raw material substitution is the key, bamboo-plastic and degradable tableware industries are rising rapidly

"The company currently has 150 bamboo straw production equipment, which can produce 2 billion bamboo straws annually, which can replace 2 billion plastic straws and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 60,000 tons. It is estimated that by 2030, the output of bamboo straws will reach 30 billion, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1 million tons.

In October 2023, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology and other departments issued the "Three-Year Action Plan for Accelerating the Development of "Bamboo-Plastic"", pointing out that by 2025, the "bamboo-plastic" industrial system will be initially established. Compared with 2022, the comprehensive added value of the main products of "bamboo-plastic" will increase by more than 20%, and the comprehensive utilization rate of bamboo will increase by 20 percentage points. At the same time, "bamboo-plastic" products will be included in the scope of government procurement support, and government procurement efforts will be increased. Public institutions and others are encouraged to actively purchase related "bamboo-plastic" products.

The product list covers seven categories of daily necessities, including bamboo shells, bamboo stationery, bamboo toiletries, bamboo furniture, disposable bamboo tableware, durable bamboo dining utensils, and bamboo degradable bags, as well as five industrial materials and five building materials.

With the continuous advancement of my country's ban on plastic and restrictions on plastic, plastic substitution has become an unavoidable topic. To this end, my country has actively promoted the research and development of degradable tableware plastics and promoted the alternative use of products. At the same time, it has begun to take advantage of the abundance of bamboo and actively promote "replacing plastic with bamboo."

According to public information from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, my country currently has more than 100 million mu of bamboo forests, and by 2023 the output value will exceed 500 billion yuan, with an average annual growth of more than 30%. It is estimated that by 2035, the output value of the bamboo industry will exceed 1 trillion yuan. At present, bamboo forests across the country can reduce carbon emissions by 197 million tons and fix 105 million tons of carbon each year. If 600 million tons of bamboo are used to replace plastic products worldwide each year, it is estimated that 4 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced. In addition to the replacement of the product itself, the replacement of plastic raw materials is also underway. At present, corn starch The alternative model with plant fiber as the mainstream has been widely used in plastic bags, degradable lunch boxes and other products. This method can solve the problem of plastic degradation.

According to the report of China Research and Puhua, driven by the continuous increase in the ban on plastics, it is predicted that by 2025, the total market demand for degradable plastics in China will reach 4.4 million tons, which will be more than 9 times the demand in 2018. If calculated at a unit price of 20,000 yuan/ton, its market space will be nearly 90 billion yuan.

Regional development bets on the plastic reduction industry, beware of low-end overcapacity

On April 14, the seminar on high-quality development of plastic products (pipeline industry) was held in Huaiyang District, Zhoukou, Henan. Wang Zhanjie, chairman of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association, said in his speech that he hoped that the Huaiyang District Government would give full play to the brand advantage of "China's Plastic Products City", promote the development of industrial chain agglomeration, and strive to create a highland for high-quality development of the plastic products industry.

It is understood that Huaiyang District has more than 100 plastic products companies, more than 20,000 employees, and the annual output value of related industries has reached 30.32 billion yuan, accounting for more than 29% of the market share in Henan Province. While planning and building a plastic products industrial park, Huaiyang District launched a degradable new material industrial park construction project, which can produce 100,000 tons of degradable agricultural mulch, shopping bags, packaging bags and other products annually after completion. Faced with the issue of plastic reduction, many places across the country have begun to build related project parks.

The reporter learned that at present, Dongguan Sichun, Shandong Shouguang, Anhui Bengbu, Shanxi Taiyuan and other places are building or have built characteristic industrial clusters of bio-based new materials to create an industrial system represented by bio-based platform compounds, bio-based plastics and bio-based fibers.

Before 2019, the growth rate of production and sales of degradable plastics in my country was relatively slow. With the promotion of the second edition of the "Plastic Ban" and the "Dual Carbon" policy in 2020, the growth rate of production and sales of degradable plastics in my country has increased significantly.

According to the China Research and Puhua report, the production and sales of degradable plastics in my country in 2021 were 302,000 tons and 276,000 tons respectively, both up more than 20% over the previous year, and the annual production capacity under construction is expected to exceed 4 million tons. At the same time, the report pointed out that the types and cost-effectiveness of degradable plastics currently available on the market are still difficult to compare with traditional plastics, resulting in limited application scope of degradable plastics. In addition, according to the requirements of the second edition of the "Plastic Ban" to prohibit and restrict the production, sale and use of some plastic products, if the 4 million tons/year degradable plastic production capacity is put into production as planned, it will exceed the most stringent requirements of future policies for the use of degradable plastics, and will face the problem of overcapacity at the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan".

At the same time, the report shows that the global degradable plastic replacement industry as a whole is still in the early stages of development, and the market penetration rate needs to be improved urgently. Among them, fossil-derived plastics still have a high market circulation share, with a share of up to 75%, while biodegradable plastics account for only 1%, and there is still a lot of market space.

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