Author | Nicole Report | Consumer Industry
Since the plastic restriction order was upgraded on January 1, 2021, some people are happy and some are worried.
Major businesses in the catering industry are forced to use paper straws and other substitute tableware, and consumers continue to complain.
The plastic restriction order is a major benefit to the degradable plastic industry, and the stocks of related companies have risen one after another.
For consumers, intellectually they support the "plastic restriction order", but it is an indisputable fact that paper straws affect the dining experience.
Judging from the feedback from consumers, alternative products such as paper straws have many problems, such as easy softening, bad taste, etc.
The upgrade of the plastic restriction order is a great test for milk tea lovers. How will you drink milk tea in the future?
Upgrade of the "Plastic Restriction Order"
As early as December 31, 2007, the State Council issued the "Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Restricting the Production and Sales of Plastic Shopping Bags."
This notice stipulates that starting from June 1, 2008, the production, sale, and use of plastic shopping bags with a thickness less than 0.025 mm will be prohibited nationwide.
Moreover, the notice also clearly states that a paid use system for plastic shopping bags will be implemented in all supermarkets, shopping malls, bazaars and other commodity retail venues, and plastic shopping bags will not be provided for free.
The purpose of the plastic restriction order is very clear, which is to curb "white pollution."
In the past ten years, the plastic restriction order has played a great role. According to data, plastic in supermarkets and shopping malls The use of bags is reduced by two-thirds, and the cumulative reduction of plastic bags is about 1.4 million tons, which means saving 840 tons of oil.
However, with the rise of express delivery, takeout and other industries, as well as the improvement of consumption levels, consumers have gradually accepted the paid use of plastic bags, resulting in plastic restriction orders in recent years having little effect.
In 2017, there were about 8 billion plastic bags for express delivery in my country, and food delivery platforms such as Meituan and Ele.me produced more than 7 billion plastic bags every day.
So far, starting from January 1, 2021, Shanghai’s “Plastic Restriction Order” has been upgraded, stipulating that by the end of 2020, non-degradable plastics will be banned in shopping malls, supermarkets, pharmacies, bookstores, and catering takeout in key cities. bags, and the use of non-degradable disposable plastic tableware is prohibited in the catering industry across the country.
So what impact will the upgrade of the “plastic restriction order” have on the consumer industry?
Some people are happy and some are worried about the plastic restriction order.
McDonald’s took the lead in switching to paper straws.
As early as September 2018, McDonald's promoted new environmentally friendly paper straws in 1,361 stores in the UK and Ireland.
McDonald's expects the initial rollout of the paper straws in the UK and Ireland to be fully completed by the end of the year.
However, due to the unsatisfactory usability of paper straws, consumers still did not buy it in the first half of 2019, and some consumers even boycotted McDonald's.
Some consumers complained on social platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, saying that McDonald’s paper straws are actually just a piece of paper. After taking a few sips of the drink, the straws stick together, making it impossible to drink!
Consumers complained about paper straws and demanded the withdrawal of environmentally friendly paper straws, but the government rejected their wishes.
McDonald's relevant person in charge said that based on user feedback, consumers hope to have better new straws to replace plastic straws, but they cannot damage their dining experience.
In this regard, McDonald's is also constantly trying new solutions, looking for a solution that can satisfy customers and meet McDonald's business scale needs.
For example, thickening paper straws, changing cup lids into direct drinking types, not providing straws, etc.
Compared with McDonald's, facing the strictest "plastic restriction order" in history ” Most milk tea shops are more user-friendly and prepare two types of straws.
For example, Heytea, which has exploded in popularity in recent years, offers two types of straws, biodegradable plastic straws and paper straws, for customers to choose from in its takeaways; in its physical stores, only paper straws are available.
In this regard, the staff of HeyTea said, "Paper straws are more environmentally friendly, and we recommend using paper straws. However, if customers don't like the taste, we will also provide degradable plastic straws."
The long-established milk tea Coco also uses two kinds of straws, which are placed in the most conspicuous place on the bar counter in the Coco store.
And 85 also began to provide paid degradable plastic bags on December 25 last year.
For drinks without solid additives, 85 does not provide straws; while for drinks with solid additives such as pearls, paper straws are provided.
Store manager Gu, 85, said that when store employees provide paper straws, they will remind customers to drink as soon as possible. This is in response to consumer concerns such as "paper straws tend to soften and melt, affecting drinking".
Generally speaking, the solutions of various restaurants are the same, either biodegradable plastic bags/straws. Or paper straws.
However, for various catering brands, the cost of replacing new tableware is not low.
Taking 12*230 size straws as an example, the price of ordinary disposable plastic straws is about 0.035 yuan/piece.
Four-layer paper straws without thickening and without logos cost about 0.1 yuan/piece, which increases the cost by three times.
The degradable modified material straws cost about 0.15 yuan/piece. Equivalent to 4 times the cost of upgrading.
In order to satisfy both consumer taste and environmental issues, businesses are also worried.
The degradable plastic sector has started to rise
At the beginning of this year, the strongest plastic restriction order was implemented, but the degradable plastic bag market has become a hot commodity, starting a crazy price increase mode .
The main reason is that my country’s existing biodegradable market production capacity cannot meet such a large demand, resulting in a shortage of supply.
Nowadays, many leading companies have announced production expansion plans, and it is expected that the subsequent tight supply situation will be alleviated to a certain extent.
According to CITIC Securities’ prediction, my country’s demand for degradable plastics will reach 2.13 million tons in 2025, with a long-term replacement scale of 5 million tons, and the market space is huge.
If the plastic restriction order is completed in 2025, the degradable plastic market will have a compound annual growth rate of 67 between 2018 and 2025.
This craze for degradable plastics is also reflected in the stock market.
There are about 40 stocks in the degradable plastic sector of the securities market. Excluding stocks due to poor performance last quarter, there are still 20 stocks left.
Among them, there are many stocks whose stock prices have increased by more than 10% since the new plastic restriction order was officially implemented, such as Fafa Technology, Changhong High-tech, Hengli Petrochemical and COFCO Technology.
Kingfa Technology, as of January 25, the stock has risen by 53.56 in 2021, reaching a record high.
Kingfa Technology, founded in 1993, is a high-tech listed company specializing in the research, development, production and sales of high-performance modified plastics. It is the leader in degradable plastics in China.
At present, Kingfa Technology’s annual production capacity of PBAT polyester compound (a thermoplastic biodegradable plastic) and supporting modified special materials has reached 80,000 tons, and it has been close to full production and sales since the end of 2020.
The relevant person in charge said that since the issuance of the plastic restriction order, the number of orders has increased significantly, and the frequency of business trips of some business managers responsible for the domestic market has increased much more than in the past.
Changhong Hi-Tech, year-to-date, rose 23.08.
Changhong Hi-Tech PBAT has a planned output of 600,000 tons. With its scale and Zhejiang regional advantages, it is expected to occupy a huge market share.
Ni Xiaoliang, deputy general manager of Changhong Hi-Tech, said, "The first batch of 100,000 tons of production capacity in the first phase of the project is expected to be completed and put into operation as soon as June 2021. If the first phase is put into operation, it will be Zhejiang's first and largest PBAT production capacity project”
Biodegradable plastic sector
Can the paper straw market continue to heat up?
Since the latest plastic restriction order, paper product alternatives have become the mainstream. As the price of degradable plastics decreases in the future, the share of paper products will decline.
Materials that can replace disposable plastics include degradable plastics, paper products, cloth products, etc., among which degradable plastics and paper products are the main ones.
Many merchants said that white cardboard with smooth texture, wear resistance and waterproof is considered to be the best choice among paper product alternatives.
Under existing production capacity conditions, domestic degradable plastics cannot meet the surge in downstream demand, and biodegradable plastic products are significantly more expensive than paper products.
For example, the market price of paper straws is about 30,000 yuan/ton, while the market price of PLA straws is about 50,000 yuan/ton.
Therefore, paper materials have become the main alternative to plastics.
At the beginning of the year, a Dongguan straw manufacturer said that orders for ordinary paper straws were already fully booked, and they had to wait in line for about a week; the supply of PLA biodegradable straws was relatively sufficient, but it took about 2 working days.
The company personnel said that since the end of December last year, the price of raw materials such as pulp has begun to increase. According to this trend, the price of paper straws will continue to rise in the future.
According to wind data, the prices of papermaking materials such as coniferous paper and broadleaf paper have begun to increase, rising by 825 yuan/ton and 600 yuan/ton year-on-year, with increases of 13.9 and 17.1.
Some manufacturers can produce up to 300,000 paper straws per day, with a monthly output of about 10 million.
Plastic restrictions will only become more stringent, and paper straws still have broader room for development.
Biodegradable plastic straws such as paper straws and PLA straws have become a hot topic, and some traditional plastic product companies have also begun to transform.
For example, New OTC company Jibanshi is a materials company established in 2005.
Su Zhibin, the founder of Jibanshi, said that they have been seeking transformation for a long time.
As early as 2017, Gibbons has been developing a new degradable material. The main material is plant fiber.
Su Zhibin said that if this kind of plant fiber material is mass-produced, it will also have certain competitiveness.
Currently, plastic straws on the market are about 0.3 yuan, paper straws are 0.8 yuan, PLA degradable material straws are about 0.1 yuan, and plant fiber straws are priced at about 0.7 yuan.
Paper materials also have limitations. Taking paper straws as an example, the production process is relatively complicated. In the tube rolling process alone, each paper straw requires three layers of paper.
In addition, according to customer needs, manufacturers have to adjust the material size multiple times.
Su Zhibin said that in addition to paper pulp, the raw materials of many paper straws and cups on the market are also mixed with some glue and other chemical substances, so they are not completely environmentally friendly, and they are difficult to recycle.
Under the plastic restriction order, the trend of "plastic reduction" in the catering industry seems good, but in fact, subject to consumers, the substitutability of materials, and the profitability of merchants, the entire industry must It will take some time to achieve vigorous development.
On the contrary, in the future, as the new domestic PBAT and PLA production capacity continues to be put into production, the tight supply situation of PBAT and PLA will gradually be alleviated, and the share of degradable plastics in environmentally friendly alternatives will continue to increase.
PTA production capacity
Are paper straws that deprive happiness really environmentally friendly?
“I used to watch spy movies, and before the underground worker was arrested, he would always stuff a wad of paper with secrets written on it into his mouth and swallow it.
Since I tasted paper straws, I finally know they are too difficult! ”
“The weak paper straw cannot even open the milk tea lid. ”
“Drinking a Frappuccino with a paper straw was a terrible experience. I couldn’t eat anything, just a mouthful of paper.” ”
“The paper straw successfully gave up my milk tea addiction. ”
The above comes from consumers on Zhihu and Weibo who have been deprived of happiness by paper straws.
Some netizens asked: Can plastic straws be replaced?
Unfortunately, it is impossible to switch back to plastic straws. The era of plastic straws is fading away from us.
After all, the original intention of using paper straws is to protect the environment.
Plastic pollution has become very serious in recent years. Data shows that in 2019, the country's cumulative production of plastic products was 81.84 million tons, including 30,000 tons of plastic straws, approximately 46 billion pieces.
Per capita use of more than 30. , industry experts said that although plastic straws are used for only a few minutes, the degradation time may be as long as 500 years.
This means that the plastics used by our generation will affect subsequent generations. Thinking about it this way, do you still dare to use plastic straws?
It is a general trend for major beverage stores to switch to paper straws, but are paper straws really safer and more environmentally friendly than plastic straws?
Let’s hear what the experts say
Professor Liu Jianguo from the School of Environment of Tsinghua University said:
Paper comes from trees, and the growth of trees requires land, water, chemical fertilizers, and more. Processing steps such as felling and the entire manufacturing process contain pollutant emissions.
There is also a plastic film on the surface of paper straws. It is actually a mixed material of plastic and paper, which makes it more difficult to process. There is no way to recycle them, they can only be disposed of in incineration facilities.
Overall, it does not necessarily mean that paper straws have an environmental advantage over plastic straws.
Zhejiang University. Chen Hong, a professor at the School of Environment and Resources, said in an interview that when paper straws encounter hot water, the glue in the paper straws may also produce some harmful substances.
Therefore, whether paper straws and plastic straws are safe? It still depends on the standardization of the production process.
If some businesses use inferior plastic plastic straws and paper straws with substandard craftsmanship to reduce costs, it is harmful, so it cannot be said that paper straws are safer and more environmentally friendly.
Experts said that to reduce plastic pollution, we should not focus on alternatives such as paper straws, but should simultaneously promote the concept of recycling and abandon the culture of disposable consumption.