According to internal sources from relevant departments, a major top-level policy document on plastic pollution control—namely the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution" (Document No. 80 [2020] by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment)—is undergoing revision and is expected to be released around the 20th National Congress.
Observations and Judgments from New Observation Internal Reference:
I. Reasons for Revising the Top-Level Policy Document:
- Over the past three years, although plastic pollution control has been treated as a major reform task by the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform and various government departments have made considerable efforts, the overall effectiveness has been limited.
- In March 2022, the resumed session of the United Nations Environment Assembly adopted the Draft Resolution on Ending Plastic Pollution. As the world's largest producer and consumer of plastics, China needs to proactively and comprehensively advance related initiatives.
(In fact, China was one of the earliest governments to initiate attention on global plastic pollution when it announced a ban on importing plastic waste in 2017, sparking a new wave of global concern and action.)
II. Evolution of China’s Plastic Pollution Governance Policy
(Original viewpoint by CPRRA + New Observation on Plastic Waste)
We summarize the current state and developmental trends of China’s plastic pollution governance policy with four characteristics: long-term, complex, arduous, and urgent.
The process is projected to progress through three phases: Exploratory Phase, Stalemate Phase, and Resolution Phase.
At present, China is considered to be in the second step of the first phase.
- Step One: From 2008, China began addressing plastic pollution, leading to the issuance of the Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution by the NDRC and MEE in 2019. Although plastic pollution was identified as a major national reform, the essence of the problem—plastic leakage—was not clarified.
- Step Two: In September 2021, the NDRC and MEE jointly issued the 14th Five-Year Plan for Plastic Pollution Control, which clearly identified plastic leakage as the core issue of plastic pollution. It also clarified the responsibilities of government departments and local authorities, but did not assign responsibility along the plastic industry chain.
- Step Three (anticipated): Future policies are expected to clearly assign responsibility to stakeholders across the plastic industry chain, such as:
- Holding polymer producers accountable,
- Setting mandatory packaging recycling rates,
- Requiring a proportion of recycled materials in production,
- Enforcing recyclable/reusable product design responsibilities,
- Defining responsibilities for platforms like food delivery and courier services,
- Clarifying consumer responsibilities.
After this step, China will have completed the first phase (the “Long March”) of plastic pollution governance and will enter Phase Two—a period of substantive problem-solving.
We believe that the current revision of the top-level policy will push China’s plastic pollution governance into this second phase.
III. Two Key National-Level Documents on Plastic Pollution Reform:
- On January 16, 2020, the NDRC and MEE jointly issued the Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution (Document No. 80 [2020]), hereafter referred to as the Opinions. This document represents the central government's resolution on plastic pollution control and serves as the guiding document for national reform efforts in this area.
- 20 months later, on September 28, 2021, the NDRC and MEE released the 14th Five-Year Plan for Plastic Pollution Control (Document No. 1298 [2021]), hereafter referred to as the Action Plan, aimed at strengthening full-chain plastic pollution control and achieving greater progress in plastic pollution mitigation during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.
IV. Key Differences Between the Two Documents:
4.3 Clearly, China’s plastic pollution governance policy is still in an exploratory phase, and future upgrades to official policies will continue in line with broader reform efforts.
4.1 The Opinions did not identify the fundamental nature of plastic pollution; in contrast, the Action Plan clearly states the goal of "drastically reducing the amount of plastic waste sent to landfills and its environmental leakage," thus defining leakage prevention as the core of plastic pollution control.
4.2 Both documents mention the use of fully biodegradable plastics as alternatives. However, the Action Plan shifts the language from “promoting the use of alternative products” to “scientifically and prudently promoting plastic alternatives.” It emphasizes mechanism research, scientific evaluation, and preventing blind capacity expansion, correcting the industry-wide misinterpretation that biodegradable plastics are the core solution to plastic pollution.
