Govt lifts polystyrene box ban

Experts in the packaging industry Thursday expressed concern over the recent lifting of a ban on disposable polystyrene tableware, due to the possible impacts on food safety and on the environment.

Disposable food takeout boxes made from polystyrene, often known as Styrofoam, have been banned in the Chinese mainland for 14 years, but on February 16, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) excluded polystyrene tableware from its list of banned products. They may be put into use as early as May 1 this year. The 1999 ban was originally intended to curb "white pollution."

The NDRC wanted to lift the ban as early as May 2011, the Beijing Times reported Thursday.

Dong Jinshi, secretary-general of the International Food Packaging Association, said given that polystyrene is mostly made from waste polystyrene that has been used to pack fridges and televisions, its quality is not safe to contain food.

"There are many safety issues related to these products," he said.

"Polystyrene is quite soft and will be reshaped and release toxic chemical elements when being heated in microwaves or if it contains food heated to over 70 C," he noted.

Dong said that the recent change in the policy is intended to legalize the material after it was banned.

However, Dong said he was most concerned that polystyrene tableware was in fact still being produced and used in Beijing, despite the 14-year government ban.

In China, around 100 million polystyrene boxes are still being produced every year, Dong said.

"Around 20 percent of disposable tableware in Beijing is currently made of polystyrene," he said.

"The situation might get worse once these products are officially approved by the government," Dong said.

Cao Jian, executive vice president of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association, said that polystyrene food packaging is safe to use, according to the Chemical Industry News on March 1.

The recycling technology has improved, and it is waterproof, heat- and oil-resistant, and is cost-effective to produce, he said.

"Better recycling management and technology is the way to eliminate the problem of 'white pollution,'" he was quoted as saying in the report.

A number of Beijing restaurants told the Global Times Thursday that they all use legally made non-polystyrene disposable takeout boxes. They all said they were happy with their current tableware suppliers, and saw no reason to change.

A manager of a manufacturing company producing disposable tableware in Tongzhou district, surnamed Ma, said that they have not used polystyrene since the late 1990s.

"I know that there are some manufacturing companies still producing polystyrene, and they are not being stopped," he said.

Ma said that one reason why some companies persist in producing it is because its cost is lower than other plastic products, and they could gain market share by raising productivity.

But he said that he would not use this material even if it has been approved safe for public health.

"The manufacturing process from material to actual product is just from garbage to garbage," he said.

"Some polystyrene food packaging is actually dark-colored, and it needs to be dyed with a lightening agent to make it white," he said.

The news comes as attention has been drawn to China's overuse of disposable wooden chopsticks.

Bo Guangxin, chairman of State-owned timber firm Jilin Forest Industry, told the National People's Congress that China consumes an unsustainable 80 billion disposable chopsticks per year, the equivalent of 20 million 20-year-old trees, the Xinhua News Agency reported on March 8.

He suggested that residents should carry their own chopsticks with them or the country should find alternatives.

The NDRC did not comment Thursday.