China contributes towards sustainable agricultural development

 

I've been growing flue-cured tobacco since I first started using plastic film. In the past, waste plastic film was dumped in the river and on the farms, creating an upsetting image. Although we all understood that this was harmful for the environment, we were unsure of how to address it "Dong Xuekun, a farmer and the director of a farmer cooperative in Qujing, Yunnan Province in southwest China, told the Global Times.

Plastic film has increased agricultural production ever since it was introduced in China and started to be employed extensively in the sector, but it has also contributed significantly to widespread pollution. This is a sort of serious white pollution since farmers would simply overlook the used pieces of film, letting the majority of them rot in the fields or end up in rivers, endangering the ecosystem and maybe endangering human health.

The Qujing municipal administration started a programme involving the recycling and reuse of plastic film in 2014 to address the problem and create a clean and secure farming environment. In order to recycle discarded plastic film, Yunnan Qujing Plastics Group, a recycling business, and neighbourhood farmer cooperatives were enlisted.

The Global Times writer observed hundreds of tonnes of black waste plastic film being neatly packed in containers under a plastic steel shelter at one recycling facility.

 

After the harvest in the fall, Dong continued, their work focuses on collecting and recycling used plastic film. Farmers are currently very motivated to participate because they get "paid" for recycling.

More than 800 households make up Dong's cooperative, which grows more than 10,000 mu (666.67 hectares) of flue-cured tobacco and uses almost 100 tonnes of plastic film annually. The cooperative entered into a contract with Qujing Plastics Group and the neighbourhood tobacco industry. The tobacco company will pay the farmers 2 yuan ($0.29) for every kilogramme of recycled waste plastic film, while the Qujing Plastics Group will give the cooperative 1 yuan as an acquisition fee.

"Through consistent practice, we have created two 10,000-ton residual film treatment facilities, a zero-emission residual film recycling system, and 15 new invention patents. Since 2014, we have recovered over 80,000 tons of waste film, produced and used around 20,000 tons of recycled material, and annually cleaned up over 1.5 million mu of farmland "The Global Times was informed by Lu Bin, general manager of the Qujing Plastics Group.

The production and quality of flue-cured tobacco are significantly impacted by the waste film recycling job, a member of Dong's cooperative told the Global Times. "We have kept up our waste film recycling efforts in recent years, and one mu of land may "produce" roughly 10 kg of waste film. As a result, the climate for growing tobacco has gradually improved, as have the number and quality of tobacco leaves, considerably increasing our income "explained he.

Analysts noted that China has utilized agricultural film for close to 50 years. Farmers discard the waste film because it is typically not recycled, which pollutes the water and obstructs river channels, greatly damaging the sustainability of agriculture. The recycling and use of waste film is a different problem in different regions, and it is impossible to have it fixed by one company or city, even though sustained development is a shared concern across the nation.

"The idea of sustainable development is one that Qujing actively supports. Our ecology has been significantly enhanced by a number of recycling initiatives for used film. The terrain is now more orderly and the river is cleaner "said Zou Yukun, deputy head of Qujing Economic's local affairs division.

But Zou pointed out that it would be difficult for other provinces to adopt this strategy. "Tobacco is widely produced in Yunnan. More over half of the land in the province is used for tobacco farming. Both the Qujing Plastic Group and regional cigarette companies have made significant investments in the present recycling strategy to address the issue of waste film recycling. It is challenging to replicate this strategy in other provinces, " stated Zou.

Analysts observed that encouraging farmers to participate in the recycling process is crucial, and that governmental organizations must step up their efforts to subsidize farmers participating in recycling.

The Global Times reporter observed an area the size of a football field loaded with a pile of black film garbage at one recycling facility for recycled waste film. Moving back and forth, a forklift feeds the scrap film into a crusher. The waste film is then converted into agricultural film recycled material by the procedures of rinsing, squeezing, breaking up, air conveying, plasticizing, water-cooling pelletizing, dehydration, packaging, and other processes.

"Only resources that are poorly planned and utilized cannot be thrown of as trash. The secret is in the way we create items, use them, and recycle them. We have discovered through the development of the complete recycling system that there is a pressing demand for waste film recycling and for the effective processing of waste film to create new recycled materials. We also expect that everyone's tireless efforts would result in the sustainable development of agriculture "added Lu.