Plastics and packaging laws in China

In recent years, the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) has paid increasingly more attention to the sustainable development of industries and environment protection. Several government documents including the Opinions on Further Strengthening the Clean-up of Plastic Pollution, and the “14th Five-Year” Plan of Actions for Plastic Pollution Control have been published setting out the basic principles and national strategies. The government intends to guide the plastic and packaging industry towards sustainability, environmental protection and recyclability. Main relevant legislations also include the PRC Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution Caused by Solid Waste, and the PRC Law on Promotion of Sustainable Economy, which provide general guidance on restriction of excessive packaging, recycled use of packaging, restriction of non-degradable and the development of sustainable economy.

Enterprises and individuals that generate, collect, store, transport, utilise, and dispose solid waste shall take measures (e.g. complying with the compulsory standards for restricting excessive packaging for commodities, and use of non-degradable plastic and other disposable plastic products) to prevent or reduce potential environmental pollution. Consequences for violation can be found in regulations, such as PRC Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution Caused by Solid Waste.

1. Firstly, where a producer or operator fails to comply with the compulsory standards for restricting excessive packaging for commodities, they will be asked to make correction; in the case of refusal to correct, a fine will be imposed.
2. Secondly, whoever fails to abide by pertinent state regulations on the prohibition and restriction of the use of non-degradable plastic bags and other disposable plastic products or fails to report the use of plastic bags and other disposable plastic products will be ordered to make corrections and will be subject to a fine.

Different sector regulators have published implementation measures within their sectors. For example, e-commerce volumes have skyrocketed in recent years in the PRC; the delivery industry is responsible for vast amounts of package waste, mostly consisting of environmentally unfriendly materials. In an attempt to tackle this problem, delivery companies are required to use environmental-friendly packaging materials under the Specifications for Green Packaging of Mail and Express. They are also required to formulate their own packaging code of practice in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and mandatory standards, and to file such packaging code of practice to the mailing and postal authorities for record, based on the Mail Express Packaging Operation Record Management Regulations (for Trial Implementation). Moreover, according to the Provisions on Information Reporting on Ecological and Environmental Protection Work in the Postal Industry (for Trial Implementation), delivery companies are required to report information on ecological and environmental protection work to mailing and postal authorities. Violations of the above obligations would result in administrative penalties such as warnings.

Nevertheless, due to the late commencement of relevant policies and laws, there are still many deficiencies in the PRC’s legislation and management of plastic waste, especially in the control of micro-plastics pollution and the development of specific rules and timetables for dealing with plastic pollution in the PRC’s sea waters, which still lacks relevant laws and regulations or action plans.

In April 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) proposed in the Guiding Programme on the Cyclic Development to publish a list of single-use plastics whose production and sale are prohibited. The Commission also proposed making eco-design standards for single-use plastics to increase recycling rates, and improving the current extended producer responsibility system.

Existing measures have been formulated and carried out gradually in different sectors and different provinces. The PRC Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution Caused by Solid Waste puts forward clear requirements regarding using single-use plastics in the commercial field: “The State shall legally forbid and restrict the production, sale and use of non-degradable plastic bags and other disposable plastic products.” Violations will be subject to corrections and fines. The Administrative Measures for the Use and Reporting of Disposable Plastic Products by Business Operators in the Commercial Sectors require enterprises and business owners that use plastic bags and other disposable plastic products such as commodity retail outlets, e-commence platform enterprises and take-away enterprises to report their use of disposable plastic products to the relevant authorities. Supporting implementation measures have been issued, but not all objectives have worked out. A positive example would be that the usage of non-degradable disposable plastic straws has been substantially reduced since 2020 and is now hardly seen in big chain fast food stores of larger cities; it is not fully eliminated though if taking a look into smaller restaurants and beverage shops in rural areas. However, plastic packaging in the courier and delivery fields is widely in use, and the regulation in this regard is subject to further refinement. At the local level, Shanghai is currently adopting a recyclable courier packaging pilot project and separate recycling pilot project for plastic recyclables, which may be extended to the whole country in the near future.

In 2020, the NDRC issued the Catalogue of Prohibited and Restricted Production, Sale, and Use of Plastic Products (Draft for Comments) (“Draft Catalogue”). The Draft Catalogue has listed some specific plastic products including single-use plastics and has categorised them into two types of prohibition and/or restriction: (i) prohibition of production and sales of plastic products; and (ii) prohibition and restriction of use of plastic products. After soliciting public comments, it is expected that the Draft Catalogue will be finalised and officially adopted in the upcoming future, taking into account the collected public comments. In the finalised version, there may be further amendments compared to the Draft Catalogue. Once the finalised version is adopted, it will then take effect on a specified date.

The PRC began the promotion of producer responsibility schemes starting in 2016. The current specific laws and regulations of producer responsibility schemes mostly focus on electrical, electronics, automotive, and battery products, etc.

For packaging, there are only requirements imposed on beverage paper-based composite packaging, as stipulated under the Promulgation of the Plan for Promotion of the Extended Producer Responsibility System and the Programme for the Implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility System for Paper-based Composite Packaging for Beverages.

For plastics, there is still a lack of relevant legislations on producer responsibility schemes.

There is no deposit return scheme in place for packaging or plastics in the PRC.

Although the PRC has environmental taxes in relation to pollution, there are currently no taxes on packing or plastics in the PRC.

According to the Guiding Catalogue for Industrial Restructuring (2024 Edition) (“Catalogue”), daily commodities containing plastic microbeads are classified as outdated products in the phase-out category. Pursuant to the Catalogue, daily commodities containing plastic microbeads have already been ordered to phase out by existing national industrial policies, or they shall be phased out immediately.

Technical standards concerning the definition, testing methods, and the use restrictions for microbeads are being formulated and published, such as the Technical Specification for Environmental Microplastics Monitoring in Mariculture Areas designated for Shandong Province and the Determination of Microplastics in Seawater by Fourier Transform Micro Infrared Spectrometry designated for Liaoning Province.

Specific figures for packaging or plastics are currently not publicly available. As an overall target, by 2025, the policy system for the recycling of waste materials will be further improved and the level of resource recycling will be further enhanced. The recycling network system for waste and used materials will be basically established, and more than 1,000 green sorting centres will be built. The target is to improve the current processes in the recycling industry being “scattered and disorganized”, and to introduce a higher level of standardisation and modern information exchange systems. The target recycling volume of nine major types of recycled resources, including iron and steel scrap, copper scrap, aluminium scrap, lead scrap, zinc scrap, paper scrap, plastic scrap, rubber scrap and glass scrap, is to reach 450 million tons by 2025. The objective formulated by the regulator is that about 60 large and medium-sized cities will take the lead in building an enhanced recycling system for used and waste materials.

In the past, there were older legislations prohibiting the use of recycled plastic materials for food packaging. These legislations, including the Plastic Products and Raw Materials for Food Hygiene Management Measures (1990), Licensing and Review Rules to Produce Plastic Packaging, Containers, Tools and Other Products for Food (2006), and Technical Specifications for Pollution Control during Collection and Recycle of Waste Plastics (Trial) (2007), were repealed by 2022. Currently, effective legislations do not explicitly prohibit the use of recycled plastic materials in food packaging.

Nevertheless, food packaging must still adhere to the currently effective national standards for food safety, such as GB 4806.1-2016 General Safety Requirements for Food Contact Materials and Products and GB 4806.7-2016 Plastic Materials and Products for Food Contact.

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This chapter was last updated on March 2023 and does not reflect any subsequent developments in the law.