China sets five-year targets for renewable resource recycling

China has recently unveiled an action plan boost the use of recycled materials, aiming to improve domestic waste recycling systems and foster the development of a circular economy. The plan was jointly issued by seven state bodies, including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and information Technology.

Under the Action Plan for Promoting the Application of Recycled Materials, by 2030 China aims to achieve an annual recycling volume of over 300 million tonnes for steel scrap and 80 million tonnes for wastepaper, as well as annual production exceeding 25 million tonnes of secondary nonferrous metals and 19.5 million tonnes of recycled plastics.

By 2025, China's total steel scrap recycling volume was around 255 million tonnes, while that of waste paper was 72.5 million tonnes, Mysteel's survey showed.

The country's central government will further enhance the supply of renewable resources by promoting technological upgrades and building more processing and distribution centers, according to the action plan.

Meanwhile, to boost resource utilization, the government will encourage key industries such as automotive, electronics, batteries, and textiles manufacturing to use more recycled raw materials in their production processes, the plan mentioned.

It also emphasized that the state would improve the management system for recycled materials and introduce more supportive policies to promote the development of the circular economy.

On January 4, China's State Council had issued its Comprehensive Solid Wast Management Action Plan, with the goal of accelerating the low-carbon transformation for domestic economic and social development.

The management plan targets the annual comprehensive utilization of 4.5 billion tonnes of solid waste by 2030, and the annual recycling volume of 510 million tonnes of key renewable resources, along with an effective improvement in the overall standard of solid waste governance.

Written by Anthea Shi, shihui@mysteel.com

Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com

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