China has promised to improve the processing of plastic mulch used in agriculture, the government said on Wednesday, July 3 amid growing concerns about soil contamination by film debris.

Plastic mulch, mainly a thin film placed over individual crops, is used throughout the arid and dusty north of China to improve growing conditions and increase yields by preserving moisture for crops and suppressing weeds.

The country hosts about 200,000 square kilometers (77,220 square miles) of plastic mulch, an area comparable in size to Belarus.

A report released by several ministries on Wednesday, July 3, said that China will work to increase the extraction rate of plastic mulch to 80% next year and ensure "zero growth" in the amount of plastic mulch used.

It will aim to bring recovery rates to 100% and start reducing the total land cover by 2025.

The report also said that China will work to improve its monitoring capabilities and will include multiple pollution in local government performance indicators. Manufacturers will also be forced to improve product standards.

China uses between 2 and 3 million tons of plastic mulch per year, but its waste processing capacity is only 180,000 tons, said Yang Changrong, a researcher at the China Institute of Natural Sciences, in a recent forum.