Supermarkets offer biodegradable plastic bags, which are increasingly welcomed by the Hungarian public because they are considered easy to degrade and more friendly to the environment. But is it really more environmentally friendly?

　　Hungarian environmental experts pointed out that biodegradable plastic bags are not in any natural conditions can be degraded, only in compost, soil burial, fresh water and other specific conditions to break down into environmentally sound substances. If improperly collected, it is the same as ordinary plastic bags will not automatically degrade. If it enters the ocean, because there is no microbial enzymes available on land, it will not automatically degrade. According to reports, only about 10% of biodegradable plastic bags are professionally collected and disposed of.

　　On cracking the shopping bag "not recycling" problem, Hungarian experts pointed out that a really good solution is to use reusable products and packaging materials, give up the disposable consumption habits. A person's lifetime waste is about 600 times their own weight, most of which can be recycled, which is a good way to reduce air pollution, reduce the burden on the environment and protect the earth's resources. In this sense, recycling is not a fad or a trend, but a common task.

　　In July 2020, Hungary passed a bill to restrict the use of single-use plastic bags, providing for a full "plastic restriction" from July 1, 2021. However, the impact of the new pneumonia epidemic, "plastic restriction" the implementation of the effect of mixed. Experts call for, first, should insist on not providing consumers with free single-use plastic bags, while ensuring that merchants do not include the cost of single-use plastic bags in the price of food; second, to guide people to master the correct way to collect biodegradable plastic bags, to ensure that they are collected separately and professionally composted; third, as soon as possible to phase out disposable products and packaging, and ensure that they are not replaced by other disposable products.

　　Kitchen waste oil disposal is also a headache for the Hungarian government. People are used to pouring waste oil directly into the sewer, which not only greatly increases the failure rate and blockage rate of private and public sewer networks, but also increases the burden and cost of sewage treatment plants. According to statistics, only about 7% of used kitchen oil from fried food can be collected and then re-entered into the cycle as biodiesel after special processing.

　　A Hungarian company called "BioTrans" (BIOTRANS) started a public service initiative called "Oil Don't Pour" in September 2020, which has been successful in more than 800 residential waste oil collection points. The approach is to install 240-liter collection bins designed to collect used cooking oil in managed open residential communities; secondly, the company regularly replaces the bins rather than simply emptying the containers to ensure that they do not pollute the community; and thirdly, the company offers community incentives by donating to community kindergartens or providing public service facilities to the community.

　　Large supermarket chains in Hungary have also started to place convenient waste oil collectors at prominent locations at their entrances. The Hungarian government hopes that as the public becomes more aware of environmental protection and more companies commit themselves to the cause, the collection rate of kitchen waste oil will reach 10% to 15% in the future.

　　Hungary has a lot of room for improvement in the development of circular economy. Budapest produces about 800,000 tons of garbage every year, or more than 1 kilogram of garbage per person per day, and only about 10% of the city's garbage can be recycled again after separate collection. In February this year, an automated waste separation plant covering 5,300 square meters was put into operation in Szeged, a city in southern Hungary, to process more than 70,000 tons of mixed waste generated by the 245,000 residents of the region every year, which will reduce the amount of landfill waste by one third. Currently, only 13 percent of the waste generated in Szeged is recycled, and the completion of the waste sorting plant is expected to increase the recycling rate to about 50 percent.

　　The circular economy has received greater attention in Hungary as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In April this year, Hungary established the Circular Economy Technology Platform at the University of Pannonia, based, among other things, on the fact that more than 80% of current energy is related to fossil fuels and that the circular economy will provide a useful complement to energy autonomy. The goal of the platform is to accelerate Hungary's transition to a circular economy through R&D and innovation activities, to place Hungary at the forefront of circular technology, to enhance the core strengths of Hungarian companies, and thus to increase the global competitiveness of the country as a whole.

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