According to government statistics, one-third of all household garbage in China is packaging. Half of this packaging waste has been deemed “excess packaging,” which carries an estimated annual production cost of 400 billion RMB.
In order to curb the growth of excess packaging and reduce the overall waste produced by businesses and households, the Shanghai City Parliament has passed a law called “The Regulation to Reduce Commercial Packaging.” The law sets fines to punish companies for producing excess packaging for their products, with a maximum of 50,000 RMB. Shanghai is the first city in China to pass this type of law.
While researching and drafting this bill the Shanghai City Parliament conducted a survey of 847 citizens to determine attitudes towards excess packaging and the environment.
The survey revealed that 90% of the people polled thought that the bill should be passed in order to “save resources and protect the environment,” as well as citing health concerns. In addition, 823 out of 847 people responded that they “care a lot” or “care sometimes” about this issue.
Almost 80 per cent of the people surveyed identified festival gifts and food gifts as the worst examples of excess packaging. The city concluded that the public awareness of this issue indicates a growing tendency for citizens to care about and want to participate in environmental protection.
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