Shaanxi Banned Disposable Chopsticks Providers Up to 2,000

Recently, the Provincial People’s Congress and the Provincial Development and Reform Commission held the “Shaanxi Province Circular Economy Promotion Regulations” publicity and implementation conference. This is also the first provincial-level local regulation that regulates the development of recycling economy. In addition to prohibiting excessive packaging of goods, the food and beverage industry provides Disposable chopsticks will also be banned.

It is understood that the “Regulations on the Promotion of Circular Economy in Shaanxi Province” will be promulgated and implemented on December 1 this year. The content is rich, covering all aspects of social production and life, as well as the policies formulated by government departments, and the medium to state organs, enterprises and institutions. The specific duties and responsibilities, as well as the conservation of resources and reasonable consumption of household individuals, involve a wide range of areas, indicating that the work of circular economy has entered a new stage of legal advancement.

The "Regulations" stipulates that the design and production of product packaging should conform to product packaging technical standards, and reduce the excessive use of packaging materials and the generation of packaging waste. Newly built, reconstructed and expanded construction projects must meet energy consumption, major pollutant discharge, construction land use, and total water consumption control indicators. Consumption quotas of public agencies at and above the county level and their annual implementation status should be announced on the public information network. Cleaning, watering, car washing, etc. should give priority to the use of renewable water, public office space, energy-saving lamps should be used, and residents are encouraged to use energy-saving lamps.

With the improvement of living standards, people’s reliance on disposable chopsticks has increased. Behind the convenience is quicker, at the cost of a lot of waste of forest resources and accumulation of rubbish. In view of the current status of the large-scale use of disposable chopsticks related to hygiene and environmental protection, the regulations proposed that hotels should reduce the provision of disposable items and prohibit the provision of disposable chopsticks by the catering industry. Operators who violate the regulations shall be ordered by the food and drug supervision and administration department to make corrections within a time limit. If the time limit is not corrected, a fine of 500 yuan up to 2000 yuan shall be imposed on the catering enterprises, and a fine of between 50 yuan and 200 yuan shall be imposed on the self-employed catering operators.