Status Analysis of Recycling and Disposal of Pesticide Packaging Waste in Western Zhejiang

Dequan JIANG, Mengke DU, Lihua MAO, Jianzhong LI

1. Quzhou Agricultural Technology Extension Center, Quzhou 324003, China; 2. Qujiang District Rural Industry Revitalization and Development Center, Quzhou 324022, China; 3. Qujiang District Agricultural Technology Extension Center, Quzhou 324022, China

Abstract The status quo of recycling and disposal of pesticide packaging waste in western Zhejiang Province was studied. The existing shortcomings were analyzed, and feasible suggestions were put forward.

Key words Packaging waste; Recycling; Suggestions

1 Introduction

TheOpinionsoftheCPCCentralCommitteeandtheStateCouncilonComprehensivelyPromotingRuralRevitalizationandAcceleratingAgriculturalandRuralModernizationpoints out that it is necessary to promote green development of agriculture and fully implement pesticide packaging recycling actions. To implement the spirit of the central files and the work requirements of provincial, municipal party committee and government, we focused on Quzhou City in the west of Zhejiang Province (referred to as western Zhejiang) and carried out a research on the recycling and disposal of pesticide packaging waste from April to December 2021 by means of questionnaire survey and on-site visits. The status quo was understood, and the shortcomings were analyzed, and the feasibility suggestions were put forward.

2 Status quo

2.1 Exploring and improving working mechanismsSince 2015, the plant protection department of agriculture and rural affairs bureau has carried out a pilot project for the recycling and disposal of pesticide packaging waste, with administrative villages and large-scale agricultural planting subjects as grass-roots recycling points. After 7 years of efforts, the city has established 6 county-level collection centers, 132 township-level (town) recycling stations, 658 village-level recycling points, and established and improved the recycling and disposal process and mechanism, so that the whole chain can be traced from the source of recycling to the amount and capital of each link of recycling and disposal. The main working processes are as follows: each county (city, district) determines the county-level collection subject in the form of government purchase of services through open bidding every year; at the same time, the unified recycling price of pesticide packaging waste such as glass bottles, plastic bottles, plastic bags and aluminum foil bags should be clarified and publicized to the society; village-level recycling points collect pesticide packaging waste with cash and fill in the recycling standing book according to the standard; the collection subject should establish a recycling and handover standing book list with township (town) recycling stations and village-level recycling points, and signed by both parties; the collection subject shall sign a disposal contract with the enterprises qualified for harmless disposal of pesticide packaging waste and strive for early disposal. The recycling and handover standing book list should include the type, quantity and amount of money of pesticide packaging waste registered, the name of supplier and collector, the recycle date and other detailed information.

2.2 Striving for financial guaranteeSince 2017, agricultural and rural authorities at all levels have included all funds needed for the recycling and disposal of pesticide packaging waste into the financial budgets of governments at their own levels to ensure the effective implementation of the work. In 2017, the 6 counties (cities and districts) in western Zhejiang allocated a total of 9.6 million yuan of financial budget funds for the recycling and disposal of pesticide packaging waste, and the actual used funds were 8.435 million yuan; the budget funds in 2021 were 7.2 million yuan, and the actual used funds were 6.786 2 million yuan.

2.3 Implementing the responsibility of recycling and disposal

The 6 county (city, area) governments in western Zhejiang have earnestly implemented the requirements of central files andPesticideManagementRegulations, issued theImplementationPlanforRecyclingandDisposalofPesticidePackagingWastein the form of government documents to clarify the objectives, tasks, responsibilities and safeguard measures for the recycling and disposal of pesticide packaging waste, and included the tasks in the assessment content of the annual "waste free city" construction to ensure the proper implementation of the work. In accordance with the requirements of "territorial management, graded responsibility", the county (city, district) government and township (town) will sign a liability statement, and the township (town) then implements the responsibility to the village, thus implementing the responsibility layer upon layer and ensuring the implementation of work.

2.4 Improving farmer participationAll counties (cities and districts) in western Zhejiang publicize the significance of pesticide packaging waste recycling and pesticide reduction to ecological environmental protection and related recycling price standards by hanging unified recycling price billboards and media publicity at recycling points, and encourage the whole society to actively participate in the recycling of pesticide packaging waste and pesticide reduction. Among the 276 farmers interviewed in the survey, 98.19% and 95.29% had the intention of recycling pesticide packaging waste and implemented packaging waste recycling in the previous year, respectively. Among them, the proportions of large-scale agricultural planting subjects were 100% and 100%, and those of small private investors were 88.37% and 69.77%, respectively. Therefore, large-scale agricultural planting subjects have a strong awareness of recycling pesticide packaging waste and a high participation rate.

2.5 Greening farmland environmentThrough continuous efforts, the environmental protection awareness of most agricultural growers (large-scale and private) has been significantly improved, and a good habit of timely recycling pesticide packaging waste after application has been gradually developed. Pesticide packaging wastes basically disappear in farmland, ditches and the surrounding environment, and the countryside has become greener and cleaner. With the improvement of crop disease and insect pest control technology, pesticide composition and dosage form are constantly updated and applied. Particularly, the average annual promotion of green disease and insect pest control technology is 72 800 hm2and the implementation of unified prevention and control is 58 400 hm2, and the use of chemical pesticides is gradually decreasing. In 2020, the consumption of chemical pesticides in western Zhejiang was 2 373.90 t, 49.03% less than 4 657.90 t in 2017, and the consumption of pesticides per unit planting area decreased from 2.34 kg/hm2in 2017 to 1.76 kg/hm2in 2020, with a decrease of 24.79%. Meantime, the recycling and disposal assessment tasks assigned by the provincial level are overfulfilled every year. In 2021, the recycling amount of pesticide packaging waste in the city was 294.02 t and the harmless disposal amount was 342.47 t (including the accumulated amount in warehouses over the years), separately completing 138.13% and 129.42% of provincial tasks.

3 Shortcomings and reason analysis

After 7 years of continuous development, the recycling and disposal of pesticide packaging waste in the whole city has achieved remarkable results, and farmers have initially formed the habit of packaging waste recycling, but there are still some problems that need to be concerned and solved.

3.1 Environmental awareness needs to be strengthenedTh-rough field survey, it was found that the phenomenon of discarding pesticide packaging waste still existed. Among 43 small private investors, 30.23% did not implement packaging recycling. After application, plastic bags, aluminum foil bags and other pesticide packaging wastes were scattered on the field, ditches, fields or weeds, forming white pollution in the farmland. The main reason is that some agricultural planting small private investors have inadequate awareness of environmental protection. Secondly, some pesticide operators do not have high legal awareness, and do not inform consumers of the harmfulness of arbitrary disposal of pesticide packaging waste and the relevant system of its recovery when selling pesticides.

3.2 Regulatory enforcement needs to be strengthenedAmong the 140 pesticide operators interviewed, 79.29% of them neither set up a recycling device in the site for business operation, nor actively inform the need for recycling pesticide packaging waste, let alone set up a recycling standing book for pesticide packaging waste and fulfill the obligation of recycling. 20.71% of pesticide operators said to recycle pesticide packaging waste, but the recycling rate was about 30%. The main reason is that the relevant regulatory and law enforcement agencies have not implemented effective supervision and law enforcement on agricultural materials operators to fulfill the obligation of recycling pesticide packaging waste, with inadequate supervision and less rigid law enforcement.

3.3 There is a risk of secondary contaminationThe author found that the warehouse of pesticide packaging waste collection center in Qujiang District, Longyou County and Jiangshan City still stored the backlog of untreated pesticide packaging waste. According to information, some pesticide packaging wastes have been accumulated for many years, and there is a risk of secondary pollution. The main reasons for the backlog are as follows. (i) Low calculation coefficient of recycling in recent years. The calculation method in previous years is: Annual recycling task=(Pesticide consumption of the previous year-Annual pesticide reduction task) ×0.07×90%; Annual disposal task=Annual recycling task ×90%. Every year, agricultural and rural departments allocate the number of disposal tasks and budgetary funds for pesticide packaging waste according to the estimated number of recycling tasks and disposal tasks. If the number exceeds the tasks, there will be no funds for disposal. However, parts of farmland in western Zhejiang are hilly and mountainous areas, which are mostly operated by small private investors. Pesticide packaging with specifications of 10 g or less accounts for a high proportion, resulting in more packaging wastes. The unified average calculation coefficient of pesticide packaging waste production (0.07) in Zhejiang Province is too low for hilly and mountainous areas in western Zhejiang. (ii) Insufficient processing capacity and difficult disposal after collection. Quzhou city has always treated pesticide packaging waste as hazardous waste. Only Zhejiang Quzhou Jutai Building Materials Co., Ltd. in the city can handle pesticide packaging waste, but the company has insufficient disposal capacity and can not carry out disposal in time. (iii) Price factor of disposal. The disposal price of Quzhou Jutai Building Materials Co., Ltd. is relatively reasonable, which is 6 360 yuan/t. If the pesticide packaging waste that can not be treated in time is transported to other cities for disposal, the unit price of disposal is about 6 800 yuan/t, and the transportation charge is 12 000 yuan/vehicle (each vehicle can be loaded with 13 t, and the insufficient part is calculated as one vehicle). The average disposal price per ton is more than 1 000 yuan higher than that disposed in the city, greatly exceeding the budget, so the collection center can only store the unprocessed pesticide packaging waste in the warehouse.

4 Suggestions

4.1 Strengthening recycling publicityThe collection and reasonable disposal of pesticide packaging waste is an important part of promoting green development of agriculture and reducing secondary pollution, which is of great significance to the protection of ecological environment and the promotion of public environmental awareness. Focusing on agricultural material operators and small private investors, propaganda and training should be conducted to clearly inform pesticide operators and pesticide users that they should fulfill their legal and social responsibilities according to law and can not discard pesticide packaging waste at will, thereby cultivating and forming a good habit of timely recycling pesticide packaging wastes and handing them to the recycling site for uniform harmless disposal after selling and using pesticides. By hanging signs at pesticide packaging waste recycling stations (points) and establishing informal social norms such as village regulations and civil covenants in villages and urban communities, as well as TV, newspaper, Internet and other media, the publicity on the harmfulness of pesticide packaging waste littering and the importance of safe disposal is strengthened, to improve public awareness, environmental awareness and participation awareness and to guide urban and rural residents, pesticide operators, users and producers to actively participate in the recycling and disposal of pesticide packaging waste[1].

4.2 Reducing the production of wasteAgricultural and rural departments at all levels should establish and improve the forecasting network covering the whole city through digital empowerment to dynamically monitor the occurrence and development of major crop diseases, insect pests and grass pests, scientifically formulate prevention and control strategies, regularly release information on the occurrence and prevention of diseases and insect pests, and guide scientific drug administration[2]. The departments should also strengthen policy support, promote the green prevention and control technology of crop diseases and insect pests, expand the number and area of green prevention and control demonstration areas, accelerate the promotion of physical and chemical inductive control technology products, repellent technology products, and biological control technology products, so as to reduce the consumption of pesticides and the production of pesticide packaging waste from the source[3]. Meantime, a group of specialized unified prevention and control organizations are supported to develop toward standardization of organization, standardization of technology and large-scale service through policies and measures such as optimizing subsidy forms and raising subsidy standards for purchasing plant protection equipment; the service field is constantly expanding and the service chain is extending, which has gradually transformed from single disease and insect pest control to unified seed supply, unified tillage, unified seedling raising, unified fertilization, unified prevention and control, unified harvest and other socialized processes of agricultural production; the coverage rate of unified prevention and control of crop diseases and insect pests should be expanded, and advanced and efficient plant protection equipment and large packages of pesticides should be promoted to effectively improve the efficiency of disease and insect prevention and control and pesticide utilization rate, which will lessen disaster losses, reduce the amount of pesticide packaging waste and the pollution of soil and water by residual pesticides as much as possible, and protect the ecological environment[4-5].

4.3 Implementing operator responsibilitiesThrough the investigation, it is found that the pesticide sales link can fully grasp the buyers, usage, varieties and specifications of pesticides in the region, and also facilitate farmers to timely return pesticide packaging waste, which is the key to fully implement the recycling and disposal system of pesticide packaging waste. Therefore, on the basis of good publicity and training to enhance the awareness of law-abiding and environmental protection, it should be promoted by administrative supervision and law enforcement. On the one hand, the recycling responsibility of sellers should be implemented. The agricultural and rural departments should carry out regular daily inspections and examinations, and in accordance with the principle of "whoever sells will responsible for recovery", all pesticide operators are ordered to set up special recycling devices and labels for pesticide packaging waste and fulfill the responsibility of recycling[6]. On the other hand, supervision, inspection and law enforcement should be carried out on an irregular basis. Led by the agricultural and rural departments, a joint inspection team composed of experts in administrative supervision, law enforcement and pesticide is organized to carry out random checks on the compliance of all pesticide operators with obligations stipulated by national laws and regulations, highlighting the closed-loop management mode of "purchase, sale, use and recycling" of pesticides; focusing on the establishment status of "three standing books" of purchasing, sales of pesticides and pesticide packaging waste recycling, the relevant information should be truthfully recorded as required; pesticide packaging waste recycling devices should be set up in the site for business operation, and the status of recycling is investigated; if any problem is found, it shall be ordered to correct in time, and those suspected of violating the law shall be punished by the law enforcement department[7-8].

4.4 Improving the work systemThe responsibilities of pesticide producers, sellers, users, recyclers, disposers, managers and law-executors should be further implemented, and the recycling and disposal mechanism of "producers, sellers and recycling stations (points), harmless disposal by professional institutions, and public financial subsidies" should be improved and optimized. (i) Pesticide operators and producers shall fulfill their obligations as the main body of recycling responsibility. (ii) Pesticide packaging waste recycling stations (points) shall be set up according to needs, and will recover pesticide packaging waste at price. Pesticide packaging waste will be delivered to the collection body for timely inventory, transportation, collection and storage of pesticide packaging waste at each recycling point, and then handed over to professional disposal institutions for harmless disposal. (iii) The budget for recycling and disposal should be increased. On the basis of full investigation and demonstration, the average measurement coefficient of pesticide packaging waste production should be increased from 0.07 to 0.10, and the measurement coefficient of hilly and mountainous areas should be increased to 0.12. Then, according to the new calculation coefficient, the budget will be increased to ensure that all the local pesticide packaging wastes can be collected, and disposed harmlessly[9]. (iv) The recycling price of pesticide packaging waste such as small plastic bags and aluminum foil bags can be raised appropriately, to increase the recycling initiative of small private investors, to reduce pollution from agricultural non-point sources, and to promote green and sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas. (v) Emergency recycling is carried out. A small amount of funds are allocated to recycling, and an emergency recycling team is established in the off-season to pick up abandoned or discarded pesticide packaging waste in field ditches, ridges, overrunning weed, ensuring that all wastes are recycled.

4.5 Improving disposal efficiencyTheNationalHazardousWasteList(2021 edition) clearly points out that the collection, transportation, utilization and disposal of pesticide packaging waste (discarded packaging materials directly in contact with pesticides or containing pesticide residues after pesticide use) are not subject to hazardous waste management[10]. Compared with the original regulation, the biggest change in this regulation is that the recycled pesticide packaging waste can be buried in the municipal solid waste landfill or incinerated in the domestic waste incineration plant. It is suggested that the ecological environment department should take the lead, with the participation of agriculture and rural departments, housing construction departments and finance departments, and formulate supporting operating methods for pesticide packaging waste to be buried in municipal solid waste landfill or incinerated in domestic garbage incineration plants, in order to improve the efficiency of disposal, to clean up the historical backlog of pesticide packaging waste, and to reduce the risk of producing secondary pollution[11].