The plastic industry to reduce pollution and carbon urgently need to increase the proportion of recycled plastics

The plastics industry is one of the typical high-emission and high-pollution industries, and it is also a potential field for China to achieve synergies in reducing pollution and carbon. As an important material in people's production and life, plastic has high efficiency and wide application range, and there is no other material that can fully replace it. The environmental benefits of degradable plastics are significant, but they are still in the initial stage of development, the production cost is high, and it will take time to achieve full market promotion. In this context, expanding the scale of plastic recycling is a more economical and feasible path in the short term.

Recycled plastic refers to the plastic raw materials obtained after the waste plastic is processed by physical or chemical methods such as pretreatment, melting granulation, modification, etc., which has the characteristics of pollution reduction, carbon reduction, and great recycling advantages. Therefore, strengthening the policy guidance of the application of recycled plastics, improving the recycling rate of waste plastics, and expanding the application ratio of recycled plastics are of great significance for the plastics industry to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality.

First, expanding the application of recycled plastics is crucial to jointly promote pollution reduction and carbon reduction

One is to reduce plastic pollution. More than 60 million tons of plastic waste will be produced in China in 2020, and about 70% will be landfilled or incinerated, which will not only cause groundwater and soil pollution, but also release toxic gases to endanger health. Expanding the proportion of recycled plastics will effectively improve the recovery rate of waste plastics and reduce pollution from the source.

Second, it can reduce dependence on oil resources. It is estimated that in 2021, the consumption of oil in China's plastics industry is as high as 200-400 million tons. Each ton of recycled waste plastic can replace about 0.67 tons of resin raw materials, which can save about 1 ton of oil resources. At present, China's waste plastic stockpile is about 1 billion tons, such as increasing the application of recycled plastics, will help reduce China's oil resources dependence on foreign countries.

Third, it can reduce carbon emissions. In 2021, China's primary plastic production of 110 million tons, according to the production of 1 kg of plastic release 2.3 kg of carbon dioxide estimates (excluding upstream raw material production of carbon emissions), the plastic industry released at least 254 million tons of carbon dioxide, accounting for about 2% of China's total carbon emissions. Compared with the original plastic, the carbon emission of producing 1 kg of recycled plastic is only 1.4 kg, which can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 0.9 kg, and the carbon reduction ratio is 39%.

Second, the application of recycled plastics in China has a good foundation for development

First, China's waste plastic production is still in a period of growth. The production of primary plastic products and waste plastics in China has been increasing in recent years (see Figure 1). In 2019, China's per capita plastic consumption was 58.45 kg, which is still a large gap with the per capita 130 kg in the United States, and there is still a large room for plastic consumption to rise due to the impact of the epidemic in recent years.

Second, the competent departments and industry associations have gradually formulated corresponding standards and norms. Since 2019, China has started the development of technical standards for recycled plastics, and up to now, eight standards such as polyethylene (PE) material and polypropylene (PP) material have been established. As a key industry association, the Plastic Recycling Branch of the China Synthetic Resin Association (CPRRA) is also actively organizing the preparation of a series of standards for the Design Guide for Recycling and recycling of Plastic Products, which provides guidelines for enterprises to improve product design and promote recycling and recycling.

Third, the production technology of recycled plastics has been more mature. At present, four domestic enterprises have been assessed by the FDA and obtained food grade recycled plastic production certification. The successful practice of the enterprise has confirmed that there are no obstacles in the production technology of recycled plastics in China, and the primary recycling technology of plastics has been successfully operated by enterprises for more than ten years.

Fourth, the international environment requires enterprises to increase the proportion of recycled plastics. Affected by the EU carbon border regulation mechanism, plastic tax and the UK plastic packaging tax, the cost of export products of foreign trade enterprises has increased, and the economic benefits of enterprises have decreased. In response to the strict environmental standards set by developed countries, Chinese enterprises need to produce products containing recycled plastics as required, and the demand for high-quality recycled plastics is increasing. In addition, Chinese consumers have a high acceptance of plastic recycling, according to the survey, 13.17% of consumers will reuse plastic empty bottles themselves. 60.22% of consumers choose to sell waste products to enter the recycling link.

Third, the international has expanded the application of recycled plastics from the practical level

From a global perspective, the synergistic effect of recycled plastics in reducing pollution and carbon has been reflected in the practice of many countries around the world. From the perspective of the goals committed by countries, the international community has begun to promote the application of recycled plastics through mandatory measures such as packaging taxes and carbon tariffs, and the proportion of recycled plastics is constantly increasing.

(1) The global recycled plastics market is in short supply

The global recycled plastics market size was about $37.8 billion in 2018, grew to $44.3 billion in 2021, and is expected to reach $76.5 billion in 2028. At present, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has led to higher energy costs, and the international market demand for recycled plastics will continue to expand. According to statistics, the proportion of recycled plastics in the global packaged goods and retail sectors is rising, and almost all internationally renowned consumer goods brands have made commitments to use recycled plastics.

(2) The proportion of primary plastic circulation has increased rapidly

Developed countries actively explore a variety of methods such as chemical recycling, and greatly increase the proportion of waste plastics recycled into high-quality recycled plastics. The EU issued the EU Sustainable and Circular Textile Strategy on March 30, 2022, which prohibits the physical recycling of plastic bottles into textile fibers, aiming to protect the closed-loop recycling system of plastic bottles and promote plastic primary recycling, and the proportion of plastic primary recycling applications has been rapidly increased.

(3) The concept of recycled plastic consumption is deeply rooted in people's hearts

Recycled plastic products have been more common in foreign countries, Europe attaches great importance to the integration of environmentally friendly packaging into the current consumption mode, such as fast food packaging, prepared food, soft drinks, snacks, etc., the content of recycled plastic in all plastic packaging in the UK has reached 13%. A survey in Germany shows that 95.5% of people no longer buy plastic bags when shopping; 57% of consumers refuse to buy single-use plastic bags; A whopping 72% of consumers support an extra charge for using plastic bags.

(4) Adopt mandatory measures such as regulations to expand the application of recycled plastics

More and more countries are mandating policies that require packaging to use recycled plastics (see Table 2). The European Union requires the proportion of recycled plastics to be increased by four times by 2030 compared with 2015, and Australia has made it clear in the National Plastics Plan 2021 that the recycled plastic content of plastic packaging will reach 20% by 2025.

(5) Promote the application of recycled plastics through international conventions and carbon tariffs

In March 2022, the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly adopted the "Global Agreement to End Plastic pollution Control", and many countries such as France, the United Kingdom, Chile, the Netherlands, South Africa, the United States, Canada, Kenya and India have also formed national plastic conventions and reached regional agreements, which require the increase of recycled plastic components in plastic packaging. At the same time, the Council of the European Union adopted the EU Carbon Tariff (CBAM), which is expected to come into force in 2023, and the plastics industry is also included. The global plastic packaging industry may face the pressure of global conventions and "green trade barriers" brought about by carbon tariffs in the future. As the phased goals of recycled plastic content in various countries continue to be clear, it is necessary for China to formulate corresponding policies, regulations and standards as soon as possible to effectively expand the proportion of recycled plastics.

Fourth, the main problems facing China's expansion of recycled plastic applications

The survey found that although the application of recycled plastics in China has a good foundation for development, the proportion of recycled plastics used in the way of recycled plastics is low, and the original recycling rate of the original grade quality reached after treatment is less than 2%, and there are still policy bottlenecks to expand the application of recycled plastics.

First, at present, the recycling of plastics is mainly degraded. From the current situation of waste plastic recycling in China, it is still mainly linear treatment, rather than multiple recycling. Most plastic products are difficult to re-enter the recycling channel after recycling, and the proportion of plastic primary recycling applications that can be recycled several times is only about 2%.

Second, the primary cycle policy for food-grade plastics has not been clear. PET, PE and other food-grade plastics, which account for the highest proportion of recycled plastics, are currently mainly used for the production of textile fibers, agricultural film, industrial packaging film, or the manufacture of fertilizer bags, garbage bags, agricultural recycled water pipes, geomaterials, etc., and have not yet achieved the original level of recycling. Although a considerable number of enterprises in China have the technical capacity to produce food-grade recycled plastics, they can only export their products overseas without clear policies.

Third, the lack of a sound plastic recycling system and infrastructure. China's plastic recycling has not yet built a systematic recycling system. Most places do not include plastic lunch boxes and disposable plastic packaging in the system of low-value recyclables in the garbage classification standards, and can only rely on local spontaneous and dispersed scavengers or individual businesses to recycle. Consumers have insufficient understanding of garbage classification and the recyclability of all plastics, and consumer participation in hard plastic packaging classification is not high. The construction of infrastructure such as recycling, sorting, transportation and utilization of renewable resources has not yet been included in the overall urban planning, resulting in an increase in the collection and transportation costs of recycling enterprises.

Fourth, the technical standardization of the whole industrial chain of recycled plastics needs to be improved. China's standardization of recycled plastics construction work needs to be improved, compared with the international unified high-quality recycled plastics (PCR) industry technical standards, China lacks a unified technical standard for recycled plastics and chain of custody, the lack of independent certification system. At the same time, there is also a lack of standard links between plastic recycling and front-end plastic production. Taking plastic lunch boxes as an example, there is no unified technical standard for the production of lunch boxes in China, and the large design differences cause the packaging space to occupy a large amount of space, resulting in low cleaning efficiency, and the mixing of different materials is not conducive to the high value utilization of recycled plastics.

Fifth, the original cycle cost of food-grade plastics is higher. According to the actual investigation of the recycled plastic production enterprises with the largest single-line production capacity in Asia, the main costs of the PET recycling process are: the cost of recycled bottles is 2000-4500 yuan/ton; The cost of the bottle is 5000-6000 yuan/ton; The production cost from bottle to particle is about 1000 yuan/ton; Particle purification and viscosification process is about 1500 yuan/ton; The cost of bottle sheet to recycled sheet is about 2000 yuan/ton. Combined with the above analysis, the cost of recycled chemical fiber grade bottles is about 5000-6000 yuan/ton; The cost of food-grade recycled particles is about 9000 yuan/ton; The cost of food-grade recycled sheet is also about 9000 yuan/ton. It can be seen that at this stage, compared with the use of primary materials, high-quality plastic primary recycling lacks cost advantages.

Policy suggestions for increasing the proportion of recycled plastics

Expanding the application of recycled plastics has become a top priority for China's plastic industry to reduce pollution and carbon, and should be laid out in advance to accelerate the expansion of the application scale of recycled plastics.

(1) Encourage the application of recycled plastics through policy guidance

With the goal of resource utilization and carbon reduction of waste plastics, we will strengthen the application of recycled plastics by enterprises through the formulation of policies and regulations, and gradually increase the requirements to expand the application proportion of recycled plastics in enterprise products. At the same time, enterprises are encouraged to take the initiative to increase the content of recycled plastics in product descriptions, and establish a relevant information disclosure system, regularly publish recycled plastics application data, perform the obligation to inform the competent authorities and the public, and accept their supervision.

(b) as soon as possible to develop the replacement list of recycled plastic pollutants and national standards

Carry out a survey of the level of recycled plastic pollutants in China, and systematically compare it with the level of pollutants in the United States and the European Union, and establish an alternative list of recycled plastic pollutants in China based on the survey results. Formulate green standards such as environmental protection evaluation of production equipment in the recycled plastics industry, cleaner production evaluation and recycling of recycled materials (such as rPET original recycling standard), and clarify standard requirements from raw materials, production process, product quality and other links, provide standard basis for enterprises and other implementation units, and increase public trust in recycled products. At the same time, accelerate the mutual recognition of domestic management standards and international institutions to promote product exports.

(3) The use of economic means to promote the high-quality development of plastic recycling enterprises

According to the characteristics of the recycled plastics industry, strengthen government procurement, tax incentives and other economic support. Effectively reduce the operation and management costs of enterprises, enhance their price competitive advantage, and expand the scale of the renewable resources industry. Through the establishment of special funds, social recognition and other ways to increase support for the development and production of recycled plastic products, circulation management and recycling facilities construction and other projects, to provide a strong guarantee for the further development of the industry.

(4) Strengthen the construction of waste plastic recycling system and flow supervision system

A closed-loop recycling and disposal system is established at the front end, and a closed-loop management mode is realized among producers, sellers and buyers according to the principle of "buyer's return - seller's recovery - producer's disposal". Improve waste classification standards, and incorporate infrastructure such as plastic recycling stations and sorting centers into urban planning. Further develop and optimize the intelligent recycling platform to improve recycling efficiency and reduce operation and maintenance costs. Enterprises that produce and use single-use plastic packaging will be included in the extended producer responsibility system, urging them to increase the proportion of plastic recycling. Make full use of big data and Internet of Things technology to gradually build a controllable and traceable supervision system for the flow of plastic products, and monitor the whole process of the circulation of plastic products.

(5) Start pilot recycling of recycled plastics in areas and enterprises where conditions are ripe

On the basis of enterprises that already have mature high-quality recycled plastic production technology and good social credit, and combine with the existing waste classification system, pilot recycling of recycled plastics will be carried out. During the pilot period, real-time quality supervision of recycled plastic products is carried out, the effectiveness of the pilot unit's work and the problems and difficulties encountered are summarized, the successful model of the pilot is promoted, and the proportion of recycled plastic applications is gradually expanded.