Bamboo products Photo: VCG

East China's Zhejiang Province has initiated a campaign to promote bamboo as a replacement for plastic products in offices, meetings, cafeterias, and other scenarios across government bodies, public institutions, and state-owned enterprises. 

According to the provincial development action plan of "replacing plastic with bamboo" recently rolled out by Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission in collaboration with other departments, priority should also be given to bamboo instead of plastic products during office upgrades or replacements, thepaper.cn reported on Wednesday. 

The theme for the Earth Day 2024 is Planet vs. Plastics. "Replacing plastic with bamboo" refers to substituting plastic products with fast-growing, biodegradable bamboo products and bamboo-based composite materials.

In daily life and the cultural and tourism industries, bamboo is used to produce shopping bags, stationery, tableware, and furniture. In industrial production sector, bamboo composites, vehicle interiors, and packaging materials are utilized. Besides, bamboo products are also widely used in the construction industry. 

Last October, China's National Development and Reform Commission released a three-year action plan to accelerate bamboo as a plastic alternative and proposed that an initial "bamboo replacing plastic" industry system will be established by 2025, with the comprehensive added value of main products increasing by over 20 percent from 2022, and bamboo utilization increasing by 20 percent. 

Zhejiang Province has over 14 million mu (933,333 hectares) of bamboo forests. In 13 counties, bamboo forests exceed 300,000 mu, while 43 counties have over 100,000 mu of bamboo coverage.

According to the development action plan, Zhejiang will promote "replacing plastic with bamboo" by fostering industrial ecosystems, driving innovation, and securing resources for development. 

In terms of expanding application scenarios, the authority vows to regularly update the catalog of bamboo products and promote the use of bamboo-based building materials and bamboo products in government investment projects and explore setting a minimum ration of usage of bamboo products. 

Besides, bamboo will be encouraged to use in a variety of industries such as transportation industry, daily commodities sales, hotels and bed and breakfast business as well as courier industry. 

Global Times