BEIJING: A joint working group consisting of industrial associations, plastics producers and recyclers has initiated a program to beef up the recycling of flexible plastics in China, a move experts believe will reduce waste and help with national climate targets.
Launched by the Green Recycled Plastics Supply Chain Joint Working Group and the plastic recycling branch of the China National Resource Recycling Association in Beijing on Thursday, the program aims to build up a recycling system across the entire industrial chain of flexible plastic packaging.
By 2025, the system is expected to help annually recycle 50,000 metric tons of packaging.
The working group was established in 2020 by the recycling association, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, and 16 other companies, including the China Petrochemical Corp.
As the world’s largest plastics producer and consumer, over 60 million tons of waste plastic is generated every year in China and only around 30 percent is recycled, according to the two organizations.
Due to the low return value of recycling, roughly 43 million tons of waste plastic was incinerated or landfilled, the production of which used up some 76 million tons of high-quality crude oil.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
