According to the Research Report on the Recycling Mode of Low value Recyclable Materials in Xiamen (hereinafter referred to as the report) recently released by the Economic System and Management Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, the common low value recyclables in life, such as disposable lunch boxes, disposable plastic cups, foamed plastics, waste plastic packaging bags, are also valuable resources. Xiamen turns 150000 tons of "low value waste" into resources every year, The economic value exceeds 135 million yuan. The recycling and utilization of these low value recyclables can reduce approximately 435000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually by only using the waste plastic portion.

Zhang Deyuan, Director of the Circular Economy Research Office of the Institute of Institutional Reform of the Macroeconomic Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, stated that, The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposes to implement a comprehensive energy-saving strategy, promote the conservation and intensive utilization of various resources, and accelerate the construction of a waste recycling system. Currently, low value recyclable materials, as an important component of waste, have become the biggest weakness in the recycling and utilization of waste materials due to their low economic value, scattered sources of production, and difficulty in recycling. Traditional incineration or landfill treatment methods not only cause resource waste, but also bring about Due to certain pollution and carbon emissions issues, we cannot adapt to the new requirements of green and low-carbon circular development in the new era. It is urgent to explore new development concepts and find more optimized development paths

Low value recyclable materials refer to various types of waste that are recyclable from the perspective of the object itself, but require high costs for their recycling and utilization, resulting in poor economic efficiency and difficulty in effective recycling solely relying on market forces. Such as disposable lunch boxes, disposable plastic cups, foamed plastics, waste plastic packaging bags, paper-based composite packaging for waste drinks, waste paper cups and bowls, waste textiles, waste glass and other solid wastes that are common in our daily life.

Data shows that in recent years, the production of low value recyclable materials in China has been continuously increasing. In 2021, the total amount of garbage cleared and transported in cities and counties nationwide reached 317 million tons, with low value recyclable materials such as waste glass, plastic, and textiles accounting for 40% to 50% of the total. The annual production is about 140 million tons, and most of them are mixed with household waste for incineration and disposal. The average utilization rate of materials is less than 30%, which not only causes resource waste, It will also bring about environmental pollution and increased carbon emissions.

The report shows that in recent years, Xiamen City has preliminarily explored a low value recyclable material recycling and utilization model that covers the front, middle, and back ends, combining household waste classification with "government coordinated deployment support, enterprise specialized operation, and active participation of residents". The government has issued a guide catalog for low value recyclable materials, strengthened the guarantee of land use for sorting centers, commissioned specialized enterprises to carry out market-oriented operations, promoted the integration of household waste classification and low value recyclable material classification and recycling at the recycling end, built a low value recyclable material sorting center at the disposal end to improve the efficiency of recyclable sorting, and promoted the effective connection between the sorted low value recyclable materials and the back-end recycling base, Establish a closed-loop system for the recycling and utilization of low value recyclable materials. The government has transferred subsidies for the collection, transportation, and disposal of household waste to the recycling and sorting of low value recyclables, achieving the goal of turning waste into treasure without increasing financial burden.

The report shows that through continuous promotion, Xiamen City has achieved the recycling of low value recyclable materials