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Xinhua News Agency reporters Chen Zhuzuo and Liu Yang

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued the "Three-year Action Plan for Accelerating the Development of" Bamboo instead of Plastic "", proposing that by 2025, the "Bamboo instead of Plastic" industrial system will be initially established. Compared with 2022, the "Bamboo instead of Plastic" The comprehensive added value of the main products has increased by more than 20%, and the comprehensive utilization rate of bamboo has increased by 20%, let people have more expectations for "bamboo instead of plastic.

Why is bamboo instead of plastic? How far is it from us to "replace plastic with bamboo"? The reporter conducted an investigation on this.

The Good "Bamboo" Meaning of Controlling White Pollution

"The bamboo basket feels soft, but it can hold more than ten catties of vegetables. It is very tough." Recently, Peng Min, a citizen of Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province, bought a bamboo basket online and carried it to buy vegetables every day after get off work. "This is much easier to use than plastic bags. It is environmentally friendly and has a grade."

As white pollution has increasingly become a prominent problem threatening the global environment, finding more suitable plastic alternative materials has become an urgent issue.

As a member of biodegradable materials, bamboo has outstanding carbon fixation ability and fast growth rate, which is an ideal green sustainable material. Experts estimate that if the world uses 0.1 billion tons of bamboo to replace PVC products every year, it is expected to reduce about 0.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

According to Wang Ge, a researcher at the International Bamboo and Rattan Center, China is rich in bamboo resources, with a total of 857 species of bamboo plants. In 2021, the bamboo forest area will reach 7.5627 million hectares. Data show that there are more than 10000 bamboo processing enterprises in China, and the output value of bamboo industry has increased from 82 billion yuan in 2010 to 415.3 billion yuan in 2022, with an average annual growth rate of more than 30%.

In November last year, the Chinese government and the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization jointly launched the "Bamboo instead of Plastic" initiative, so that this natural-based plastic reduction program has received more attention, and the natural endowment of bamboo resources has been accelerated in various places to improve life and industry. Development momentum.

Extending to the industrial field, the life of biodegradable plastic bamboo products is greatly increased. The reporter saw in a floor production workshop in Jiangxi that after more than 20 processes, the original bamboo became smooth restructured bamboo floors. "Compared with wood-plastic flooring that will age in less than 5 years, the service life of fully degradable reconstituted bamboo flooring is as long as 25 years." The person in charge of the company introduced.

In Jiangsu, a bamboo grid shower water filler is used in the cooling towers of nearly a thousand thermal power plants; in Zhejiang, a company developed a bamboo winding composite pipe in the field of water supply and drainage engineering has achieved industrial applications ...... From daily necessities to industrial production, to building materials, "bamboo instead of plastic" product use scenarios cover many fields from civil to industrial.

The picture shows all kinds of bamboo products. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Zhuzuo

"Bamboo" dream road still faces challenges

The reporter visited and investigated and found that "replacing plastic with bamboo" has a competitive advantage in reducing plastic pollution, but due to factors such as harvesting costs, technical equipment, and market acceptance, the accelerated development of the industry still faces challenges.

-- High harvesting costs. "Taking a ton of bamboo as an example, the labor cost of felling, loading, and transportation is nearly 450 yuan, while the average market price is less than 600 yuan." Deng Fenghe, president of the Bamboo Industry Association of Zixi County, Jiangxi Province, said that at present, most bamboo can only be harvested manually. Trying to reduce labor consumption and expand profit margins will have a beneficial impact on the production enthusiasm of employees.

-Technical equipment is limited. Wang Ge believes that the current scale efficiency of the bamboo industry is poor, which is largely affected by the low level of automation in the processing of major bamboo products. A person in charge of a bamboo enterprise in Jiangxi Province said frankly that although the domestic bamboo resources are rich and the bamboo industry has developed rapidly in recent years, many production workshops still need a lot of manual operation, and the production line can not realize automatic assembly line production. It is expected that the upgrading of enterprise equipment will take some time.

The picture shows a bamboo processing scene in an enterprise production workshop. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Zhuzuo

-- Low market acceptance. Compared with the higher-priced "bamboo instead of plastic" products, many consumers interviewed said that they still prefer to choose lower-priced plastic products. How to realize the transformation from "cheap, good to use" to "better use and more environmentally friendly", and fully transform the concept of green environmental protection into practical actions, will also affect the in-depth development of the bamboo product consumer market.

Yu Wenji, chief scientist of the Chinese Academy of Forestry Sciences, believes that from China's "double carbon" goal to "replacing plastic with bamboo" being included in the list of meeting results of the Global Development High-level Dialogue, it will bring more development to the bamboo industry. opportunity.

Many measures to promote the development of "bamboo instead of plastic"

On November 7, the Chinese government and the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization jointly issued the "Bamboo instead of Plastic" Global Action Plan (2023-2030). On the basis of the "Bamboo instead of Plastic" initiative, countries are called on to include "Bamboo instead of Plastic" elements in their development strategies and plans, further clarifying the industrial development goals.

Many experts believe that in the initial stage of the development of the "bamboo instead of plastic" industry, the government needs to improve the capital subsidy system, focus on promoting the quality and efficiency of bamboo forest bases, and transform low-yield and low-efficiency bamboo forests, thereby increasing production capacity and reducing raw material costs. Wang Ge and others suggested strengthening planning and design, scientifically guiding the construction of industrial clusters, using advantageous enterprises to drive industrial scale and intensive production, and enhancing the synergy of the industrial chain.

The picture shows the bamboo home decoration and furniture display space. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Zhuzuo

In view of the technical difficulties, Huang Hui, vice president of Jiangxi Academy of Forestry Sciences, suggested that we should continue to strengthen the docking between scientific research institutions and bamboo enterprises and forest farmers, so that scientific research achievements can be displayed and applied in industrial practice. "Only by improving the production efficiency of products through technological innovation can the cost be reduced and the market share can be increased."

"Wine is also afraid of deep alleys", good products without the support of consumers. Li Chaobin, the person in charge of Jiangxi Shuanglance Bamboo & Wood Co., Ltd., believes that the transformation of the public's environmental protection consumption concept still has a long way to go, but the improvement of consumers' comprehensive quality and product quality requirements will effectively drive consumption upgrades.

Zhang Wei, director of the Department of Ecological Protection and Restoration of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, said that he hopes to take the "bamboo instead of plastic" initiative as an opportunity to take multiple measures to effectively improve the level of scientific and technological innovation and scientific research, increase market promotion, and promote my country's bamboo industry. Present a good momentum of vigorous development.