Let’s say "no" to Chinese plastic bags!

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Kazakh producers of polypropylene products are asked to restrict the import and smuggling of Chinese counterparts, which are hazardous for health

This was stated at the third meeting of the Subcommittee of the packaging industry of the Committee of manufacturing industry of NCE RK "Atameken" by the director of LLP “Astra Polimer” Goulden Uristemova.

According to her, today there is a need to take measures to protect the domestic market of plastic packaging from the dumping by China. The fact is that in recent years has increased the flow of cheap Chinese polypropylene bags with the use of toxic substances. And since the Chinese packages get in contact with food products and do not always pass the certification procedure of compliance with quality and safety (due to the fact that the smuggled), there is a potential threat to life and health of citizens of Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile, the same polypropylene bags for food packaging products and technical purposes manufactures Kazakhstani LLP “Astra Polimer”. At the same time in their manufacture they use only primary polypropylene. Capacities of the enterprise are such that in a year it can produce about 10 million bags. Today, however, its utilizes only 30% of its capacity, because the products are sold poorly.

Moreover, as it was noted by the representative of the company, their products have excellent physical and chemical properties, they can withstand overload up to 5-6 times, and when exporting flour outside the CIS, they meet sanitary standards for food packaging, they have no toxic odors.

"Until the fall of 2014 customers were buying our products, but, due to the influx of Russian goods in the packaged form, many of them have switched to cheaper low-quality Chinese products. At the moment, the Kazakhstan market of polypropylene bags is in a situation where almost 60% of consumption is provided by imports from China", - said the director of LLP “Astra Polimer” Goulden Uristemova.

According to her, the Chinese polypropylene bags are dangerous because they make them out of recycled materials.

"We visited a number of Chinese manufacturers in Urumqi, which had not seen a single gram of raw materials in the production chain. For making white polypropylene they add various chemicals, when making flexographic and gravure printing they use toluene and butyl alcohol. Toluene is forbidden to use for food products in the EU, US, etc., and is allowed only in China and India. Because of all this, the Chinese polypropylene bags contain toxic substances, they are of poor strength and have a bad odor. But despite this, our customers are trying to save money, not thinking about the health of the population of Kazakhstan and the impact on the environment", - said the head of the LLP.

If domestic producers by sacks of only Kazakh producer, it would allow the company to operate at full capacity, increase the number of jobs.