The "white pollution" governance action of the Ministry of Agriculture did not allow the mulch to become a "magic"

During the autumn harvest season, the peasant Li Gaoliang is playing with the farmland residual film recycling machine introduced from Dingxi, Gansu Province, in the Qiucheng Village of Shangdu County, Inner Mongolia. “I planted the covered potato, and the artificial picking up the residual film is not a long time. Mu land, if using machinery is much faster, Dingxi's equipment is said to be able to recover more than 40 acres of land a day, we tried to run for a few days, although the effect is not good in Gansu, but still can solve the big problem. Difficult is The mulch is thin and easy to break." As the amount of film used and the year of use continue to increase, the pollution caused by residual film is also accumulating.
 

Don't let the mulch become a "magic"

Agricultural film is the fourth largest agricultural production data after seeds, pesticides and fertilizers. Due to long-term heavy use and light recycling, the current agricultural film recovery rate in China is less than two-thirds, and local film residue pollution is serious.

“The main component of the mulch film is polyethylene. It has to be completely decomposed in the farmland for hundreds of years. It has certain impact on the environment, and it will bring harm to the soil compaction and low emergence rate. However, the film mulching is inseparable from the vast dry farming areas in the north. The key technology of Inner Mongolia Agricultural Technology Extension Station Meng De told reporters that there are 137 million mu of cultivated land in the whole district, but the water resources are seriously deficient. The average water content of cultivated land is less than one quarter of the national average; the frost-free period is only 100 to 130 days, the heat is low. The film mulching technology has the characteristics of heat preservation, drought resistance and water saving. “It can be said that after leaving the mulch, Inner Mongolia cannot contribute 25 billion jin of commercial grain to the country every year.”

According to the statistics of the Agricultural Bureau of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Statistics Bureau in 2015, the area covered by plastic film is 17.72 million mu, and the amount of film used is 69,669 tons. The filmed farmland soil has different degrees of film residue. The average film residue of the farmland with continuous filming for more than 5 years is 3.12 kg, and the residual amount in local areas is as high as 18 kg per mu.

Agricultural film is the fourth largest agricultural production data after seeds, pesticides and fertilizers. The total annual consumption of agricultural film in China is more than 2.6 million tons, of which the amount of film used is 1.45 million tons. The film mulching technology “filled with rice bags and enriched the vegetable basket” made an important contribution to national food security. However, due to long-term heavy use and light recycling, the current agricultural film recovery rate in China is less than two-thirds, and the residual film pollution in some areas is serious. The residual film was abandoned in the fields and was blown by the wind to the front and back of the house and the treetops of the fields, affecting the appearance of the village.

Yan Changrong, a researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Environment and Sustainable Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that in recent years, the filmed farmland soils have different degrees of film mulch, and the residual film volume in some areas is 4 to 20 kg. The residual mulch destroys the soil structure, affects the emergence of crops, hinders root growth, and leads to crop yield reduction. Residue of the mulch film reduces the quality of sowing, prevents the root growth of crops, and affects the absorption of water and nutrients. Promoting the recovery of agricultural film is conducive to improving product quality and improving agricultural production efficiency; producing recycled plastic products is conducive to resource conservation and improving rural living environment.

Thick film recycling has become an industrial chain

The recycling of plastic film in Huining County has formed an industrial chain. Local farmers have generally used high-standard mulch films. In fact, the input cost per mu of farmers is about 70 yuan, while the recovery of old membranes can get about 11 yuan of compensation. In addition, the mulching film can increase grain yield, and the average old film per household can increase by 200 to 300. yuan

The reporter learned that the long-term use of ultra-thin mulch is an important cause of mulch film residue. In general, the residual film has a content of less than 50%, so that it has a recycling value. Therefore, a thick film must be used, otherwise the mechanized recovery and factory processing of the residual film is difficult to achieve. The mulch film is sold by weight. Under the same coverage area, the thinner the mulch film, the lower the cost per mu, and the mulch film with a thickness less than 0.008 mm is popular in many places. Because the ultra-thin film is fragile, the manual cleaning is very difficult. At the same time, the machinery on the market is difficult to meet the demand for residual film recycling, and the residual film is more and more.

"Under the existing economic and technological conditions, traditional agricultural mulch film is an irreplaceable agricultural material for a long period of time. This requires the prevention and control of waste film mulch residue or the way to improve the quality standards of the mulch film and improve the recovery rate and resource utilization. At present, Gansu Province has invested a total of 369 million yuan in central and provincial financial funds. In 2016, the recycling rate of waste agricultural film in the province has reached 78.6%. Practice has proved that the recycling of waste plastic film is not difficult, the key is to continue to develop. Yang Yufeng, deputy director of the Provincial Department of Agriculture, said.

During the autumn harvest season, in Dehui Plastic Industry Co., Ltd., Huining County, Gansu Province, the vehicles that sent the waste film to the factory area were in constant stream. Chen Delin, general manager of the company, said that the recycled granules of waste mulch processing are very good. With the support of the government, the scale of the enterprise has gradually expanded, and the acquisition of waste mulch film has also increased. According to reports, there are two main ways to use waste agricultural film: one is to crush and clean the agricultural film, and then to produce recycled plastic pellets by hot melt and extrusion, and then deep processing into polyethylene pipes, plastic containers, drip irrigation belts, etc.; The other is to directly pulverize the agricultural film, mix a certain proportion of slag, and process and produce recycled products such as water wells and manhole covers.

The recycling of plastic film in Huining County has formed an industrial chain. There are 2 large-scale processing enterprises, 8 primary processing enterprises, 28 rural recycling points, and more than 50 mobile traders engaged in the acquisition of waste plastic film. The recycling company opened the acquisition at a reasonable price, stimulating the enthusiasm of farmers to pick up the sale. Local farmers have generally used 0.01 mm high standard mulch film, and the average investment is 7.5 kg of mulch. The national and provincial subsidies are 2 kg. The remaining 5.5 kg of mulch is self-raised by farmers. In fact, the input cost per mus of farmers is about 70 yuan, and the old film is recycled. It can get about 11 yuan of compensation, plus the film cover to achieve grain production, the average increase in the old film per household can reach 200 yuan to 300 yuan, picking up and selling the waste film has become a market behavior.

Comprehensive utilization of mulch and pollution control is a systematic project. In 2013, the Gansu provincial government issued a regulatory document to completely eliminate ultra-thin mulch film that is difficult to recycle in the province. In January 2014, the first local regulations on the recycling and utilization of waste plastic film in Gansu Province, the Regulations on the Recycling and Utilization of Waste Agricultural Films in Gansu Province were implemented. In May 2016, Xinjiang officially implemented the Regulations on Farmland Membrane Management. The regulations of the two provinces and regions have raised the management experience over the years to the regulatory level. In 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture built 100 mulch film demonstration counties in Gansu, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. The thick film was fully promoted and used, and the recycling and processing system was basically established. The recovery rate of the film in the demonstration county reached 80% or more, and the basic resource utilization of the film was realized. .
 

Series of problems still to be solved

The recycling of plastic film is faced with the problem of lack of standards, lack of policies, and mechanical recycling. On the one hand, China should speed up the introduction of new products such as degradable mulch films, promote the development of new mulch products from experimental research to demonstration and promotion; on the other hand, give subsidies to manufacturers or farmers at the production or sales side, and promote the use of degradable mulch films. Enthusiasm

Liao Xiyuan, director of the Department of Science and Education of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the film recycling management has started and achieved certain results, but it still faces many difficulties. First, there is a lack of standards. Although Xinjiang and Gansu have introduced local standards and adopted relevant regulations to promote the implementation of standards, the current mulch standards implemented at the national level are still loose, and ultra-thin mulch is still in large use. The second is the lack of policy. Due to the lack of preferential policies, coupled with the continued decline in the price of plastic recycled products and the rising cost of manual pick-up, recycling and processing companies have no profit margins and are difficult to sustain. Third, mechanical recycling is difficult. At present, the film recycling in most areas is mainly based on manual picking, and the film recycling technology is still immature. It does not solve the problems of low recovery rate, separation from straw and soil, and high recovery cost and low efficiency.

Experts in the industry believe that the recycling of used film is a low-profit industry. It should study and formulate preferential policies for the recycling of waste film recycling enterprises, such as tax incentives for resource reuse, and give water, land, electricity and credit. Concessions, etc., gradually improve the recycling network of waste plastic film, support the construction of a number of waste film processing and acquisition outlets, encourage film production enterprises to recycle used film, promote the "who sells who to control" "old film replacement film" policy pilot, encourage farmers and The agricultural machinery service organization recycles the old mulch film.

This year, the Ministry of Agriculture selected four counties in Gansu and Xinjiang to explore the establishment of a “production and recycling” film film producer responsibility extension system pilot. The film production enterprises, unified film supply, unified filming, unified recycling, responsibility for film recycling When the user goes to the producer, the farmer changes from buying the product to buying the service, and pushing the film production enterprise to recycle the waste film. At the same time, in the three provinces of Gansu, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, 100 membrane counties were selected to adjust the use of funds for related projects, and the use of supplements was used to supplement the recycling, and the establishment of business entities, professional organization recycling, processing enterprise recycling, etc. Ways of recycling.

Increasing scientific research and promoting the use of degradable film is also a major direction in the industry. At present, the relevant departments have established the National Agricultural Waste Recycling Innovation Alliance and the Key Laboratory of Agricultural Membrane Pollution Prevention and Control. In the way of cooperation between agriculture, enterprises and science, we will organize 6 scientific research units and 24 major biodegradable materials production enterprises nationwide to carry out demonstration experiments of degradable plastic film. Lanzhou Golden Land Plastic Products Co., Ltd. has successfully developed and produced high-strength environmentally friendly mulch film that is close to the EU agricultural covering material standard, fully meeting the requirements of mechanized laminating operation and mechanical film recycling.

It is understood that the cost of degradable mulch film is higher than that of ordinary mulch film, and the cost of using peasants per mu is increased by about 100 yuan, which limits the promotion and application. This is the main reason why the degradable mulch film is not easy to be widely promoted. At the same time, the degradation process of degradable mulch film is greatly affected by the environment, and it is difficult to meet the different needs of different crop growth cycles. Experts suggest that on the one hand, we should speed up the introduction of new products such as degradable mulch films, promote the development of new mulch products from experimental research to demonstration and promotion; on the other hand, we must give subsidies to manufacturers or farmers at the production or sales side, and promote the use of biodegradable products. The enthusiasm of the mulch.