On December 22, the "soft plastic rebirth" project, led by the Joint Working Group on the Supply Chain of Green Recycled Plastics (GRPG) and the Recycled Plastics Branch of China Material Recycling Association, was officially launched, which was jointly initiated by several units and aimed at establishing a full chain cycle system for soft plastic packaging. According to the goal set by the project team, it is expected to achieve an annual recovery of 50000 tons of plastic flexible packaging by 2025.
China is the largest country in plastic production and consumption in the world, producing more than 60 million tons of waste plastics every year, of which about 30% are physically recycled. Due to the low recycling value, 27.6 million tons of the remaining 70% were incinerated with domestic waste and 15.4 million tons were landfilled with domestic waste. To produce 43 million tons of plastics that are incinerated or buried, more than 76 million tons of high-quality crude oil will be consumed, which is equivalent to the annual output of 2.5 Daqing oilfields.
Wei Honglian, chief engineer of the Solid Waste and Chemical Management Technology Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said at the launching ceremony that plastic pollution control is an important part of the construction of a "waste free city". Every year, a large number of soft plastic packaging is buried or burned in China. In a sense, it is a great waste of resources and an important waste of carbon reduction potential.
Li Jinghong, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the recycling of soft plastics has always been a difficulty. The recovery rate of soft plastics is far below the average level due to its low recycling value, high possibility of being polluted during use, and low awareness of consumers on the recovery of soft plastics.
Zhou Yunfei, director of the project office, introduced that, according to the work plan and objectives set by the project team, the project was divided into four stages. Through special pilot, demonstration, replication and promotion, it was expected that by 2025, the scope of the project would be expanded to the first, second and third tier cities nationwide, and 50000 tons of plastic flexible packaging would be collected annually.
Xu Junxiang, president of the China Material Recycling Association, said that as a landing project of the design system of "easy recycling and easy recycling", we hope to accumulate experience through the project, carry out similar activities in more plastic products, revitalize the recycling potential of waste plastics, coordinate communication and cooperation with more stakeholders, strive for policy support, further promote the construction of a recycling system of the whole plastic industry chain that can be commercialized Even the development of global plastic circular economy has explored a new model.
Wei Honglian affirmed the implementation of the "soft plastic newborn" project. "The project is based on single material plastic flexible packaging, and pilot cities are selected to promote the construction of recycling system, explore and optimize the whole industry link, and carry out experience exchange, publicity and education. The project design is very perfect and forward-looking, grasping the pain points and difficulties of current plastic pollution prevention, which is very consistent with the needs of current plastic pollution prevention and waste plastic recycling system construction. During the implementation of the project, the Solid Management Center of the Ministry of Ecological Environment It will also give active attention and strong support. " Wei Honglian said.
In view of the pain points and difficulties in the recycling of soft plastic packaging, the Renewable Plastics Branch of China Material Recycling Association and the Green Renewable Plastics Supply Chain Joint Working Group (GRPG, The whole chain circulation system of plastic flexible packaging for consumer goods from design production consumption recycling recycling to high-value application will be established to break the barriers of industrial chain cooperation and realize closed-loop high-value utilization of plastic flexible packaging.
