Take clean vegetables as an example. In the early 1990s some local regulations defined the production and marketing requirements for clean vegetable sales, but they eventually fell into oblivion due to slack enforcement and no recognition beyond regional boundaries. The clean vegetables in the market nowadays are all labelled so by producers or stores, and their “cleanness” criteria differ wildly. Besides, most of these vegetables are processed in the destination cities, meaning they don’t reduce urban waste. In addition, consumers are generally lukewarm toward clean vegetables, which are more expensive and of limited variety. As they appear less fresh than those that went directly from field to stall, their appeal to buyers is lower too.

Lack of a national law and regulations takes the blame where criticism about overpackaging is concerned. “The call for prohibition has come to nothing because there are no legal stipulations for punishing violators,” said Yang Weimin, vice chair of the China Packaging Federation. “There is no clear definition of the legal responsibilities falling to every party concerned with packaging. First of all a law has to be established, so that the enforcement authorities, manufacturers, sellers and buyers all have rules to follow.”

Since the second half of 2009, in the wake of renewed endeavors to stimulate waste segregation and the upgrading of treatment facilities, Beijing has been wrestling with a draft law on domestic garbage. It is a powerful addition to its arsenal, a battlefront that stretches the world over.