China to ban single-use plastic by 2022

BEIJING: China’s National Development and Reform Commission has unveiled the country’s new policy to curb the use of single-use plastic. With the new reform, China, world’s largest single-use plastic consumer, would ban the production, sale and use of the same by the end of 2022. The markets selling fresh produce would be exempted from the ban till 2025. For the first step, the republic would be completely banning the use of straws from restaurants by the end of this year and the restaurants would also be required to cut down their usage of single-use plastic to 30 per cent. A policy change was a needed step for the country as it produced a total of 60 million tonnes of plastic in 2010 and 2017 and has a total accumulation of 215 million tonne plastic waste till date.