Development of China’s Plastics Recycling Industry

By Ning Hongtao, Guangdong Kingfa Scientific and Technological Co., Ltd.

In 2014, the number of plastics processing enterprises whose sales exceeded RMB20 million increased to 13 699. Their primary operating income, profits and taxes all maintained a steady growth. Plastic consumption was 67.85 million tons, 9.6% over 2013.
Since 2000, China’s import of waste plastics has grown rapidly. From 2000 to 2014, it increased from 2.01 million tons to 8.25 million tons, and overall growth was 311%. The specific data of waste volumes, recycled volume and recycling rate of plastic appears in China is in Table 1.

Table 1   Waste volume, recycling volume of plastics in China, 2009-2014         (kt)

Program    2009    2010    2011    2012    2013    2014
Domestic relative real plastic consumption     41 707    46 936    52 295    54 674    56 700    67 854
Volume of waste plastic    23 530    28 000    28 710    34 130    38 000    40 200
Volume of domestic recycling plastic     10 000    12 000    13 500    16 000    17 000    20 000
Volume of import recycling plastic     7 326    8 009    8 386    8 897    7 868    8 254
Total volume of recycling plastic    17 320    20 009    21 884    24 878    24 880    28 254
Domestic plastic recycling rates    24.0%    25.6%    25.8%    29.3%    30.0%    29.5%



The import of waste plastic to China is detailed in Table 2.

Table 2   Import of waste plastics to China, 2008-2014

Year    2008    2009    2010    2011    2012    2013    2014
Import (kt)    7 075    7 326    8 009    8 386    8 897    7 868    8 254
Growth rate (%)    3.36    3.55    25.97    4.7    5.82    -11.56    4.91



The EU is the largest source of the waste plastic imported to China, accounting for 25%. Other primary sources are America and Japan.
About 10 000 manufacturers process waste plastics; medium-size industrial enterprises are becoming the main players in the waste plastics industry. The volume of recycling accounts for 40% of the total. Most of these enterprises are located in coastal regions.
Waste plastic recycling in China has become relatively concentrated geographically. From the regional perspective, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong and Hebei are the main distributing and producing centers. Different regions use different kinds of waste materials: Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong mainly recycle and use advanced low density polyethylene (LDPE) films and high density polyethylene (HDPE); Zhejiang, Shanghai and Jiangsu mainly use clean polyethylene terephthalate (PET), HDPE, polypropylene (PP) and some engineering plastics; Fujian has large demand for low-grade LDPE films; Guangdong consumes a large volume of all types of engineering plastic and some polyethylene (PE), PP and PET materials.
Currently, the main problems in the waste plastic industry include:
? the overall size of the industry is large,
? the number of small companies is tremendous,
? R&D capabilities are weak,
? technology is backward,
? level of equipment is low,
? utilization of raw materials and energy is low,
? secondary pollutants harm the environment,
? classification and sorting technology is backward,
? resources are wasted,
? products are low in added value.
As the economy develops, the scale of the waste plastics recycling industry is growing, enterprises urgently need to speed up transformation and upgrading. Waste plastic recycling is a future development direction for the country. Players must keep applying and developing new techniques and products, along with corporate policies to deepen the management of environmental impacts. Gradually, standardized industry clusters will develop.