Ending plastic pollution: Policy and technological innovation

Plastic pollution is one of the most urgent environmental challenges facing our planet. Each year, over 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced worldwide, with half destined for single-use products; yet less than 10 percent is recycled.

The remainder often ends up in landfills, incinerators or the natural environment, particularly rivers and oceans, damaging ecosystems and harming wildlife.

The United Nations set "ending plastic pollution" as the theme for World Environment Day, which falls on June 5, 2025, highlighting the need for systemic solutions that span production, consumption and waste management.

In China, policy guidance and systematic practice have laid the groundwork for significant progress.

In September 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Ecology and Environment jointly unveiled a plan on controlling plastic pollution within the 14th Five-Year Plan, establishing clear targets: by 2025, the governance mechanism should be fully operational, with visible improvements in production, distribution, consumption, recycling and disposal of plastic products.

Governments at all levels have embraced waste sorting and built recycling stations, ensuring that plastic waste streams are managed at the source.

By the end of 2024, e-commerce platforms in China achieved a 95 percent rate of parcels without secondary packaging; smart carton-packing algorithms reduced packaging material usage by 20 percent.

Companies like Cainiao implemented full-chain green logistics, saving over 100,000 tonnes of packaging material in the 2024 fiscal year by using recyclable plastic boxes up to 50 times each.

JD.com has gradually reduced the width of its packing tape from 53 mm to 40 mm, cutting plastic-tape use by a total of 13,352 tonnes.

Technological innovation has proven to be a key driver of the green transition. Traditional polyethylene mulch films pollute soils through residual fragments that persist for decades.

China's research teams have ramped up development of biodegradable mulch films composed of PBAT, PLA, PPC and PHAs.

These materials degrade in soil via microbial action, turning into water and carbon dioxide without manual collection.

By 2023, over 20 provinces, including Hainan and Shandong, piloted biodegradable mulch across crops such as potatoes and peanuts.

Breakthroughs in biomass-based films, using straw and animal manure as feedstock combined with microbial-derived polymeric additives, promise to replace conventional films entirely.

Other nations are also advancing policy and innovation. France's 2020 Anti-Waste and Circular Economy Law banned plastic packaging of 30 fruit and vegetable types from January 2022.

Cut fruits and a limited number of delicate produce can still be sold with plastic packaging for now, but that will be phased out by the end of June 2026.

Spain's law on waste and contaminated soil, enacted in 2022, mandates a 50 percent reduction in single-use plastics by 2026 and 70 percent by 2030, compared to 2022.

Extended producer responsibility requires plastic producers to fund awareness campaigns and cleanup efforts.

Despite progress, ending plastic pollution demands sustained action across sectors. Consumers can support reusable alternatives, policymakers must enforce circular-economy measures, and scientists should refine biodegradable technologies.

Only through global cooperation, combining rigorous policy frameworks with cutting-edge innovations and individual responsibility, can we achieve a world free from plastic waste.

For more:

Ending plastic pollution: How Pacific Island nations are confronting a crisis they didn't create

Bamboo instead of plastic: China's ongoing green transition

Earth Day 2024: Help the planet fight plastics

World Environment Day 2023: Scars of plastic

(Cover designed by CGTN's Du Chenxin)