Good prospects for recycled plastics industry

With the increasing awareness of environmental protection, the acceptance of plastic waste and recycling applications has attracted widespread attention. Plastic combustion produces toxic gases that are difficult to decompose due to landfilling and can contaminate the soil environment. However, plastics can be reused through recycling, which not only solves environmental pollution problems, but also saves energy consumption. The prospects of the recycled plastics industry are promising. Sources of waste plastics include plastic films, plastic containers, plastic containers, daily plastic products, plastic bags, plastic wires, and so on.

Recycled plastics are favored by many manufacturers because they have higher environmental advantages than the original plastics. Taking polyester as an example, the energy demand for recycled polyester is less than 2/3 of the original, and 2/3 of the dioxide* and 1/2 of the nitrogen dioxide are reduced, and the amount of water used is also reduced by a factor of 10 while avoiding Raw plastics are landfilled. At present, recycled plastics have been used in textiles, automobiles, food and beverage packaging, electronics and other fields. At present, waste plastics are popular throughout the country, and a number of large-scale recycling and distribution centers and processing centers have been formed, mainly in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, Liaoning, and Liaoning, and the prospects of the recycled plastics industry are promising.

Shangpu consulting chemical industry analysts believe that the prospects for renewable plastics industry are good, but in the actual development process, still face many problems, mainly reflected in the following aspects: 1. Recycled plastics have poor quality stability. Due to the wide range of sources of recycled plastics and the uneven quality, there are significant differences between batches; 2. The price of recycled plastic is higher than that of raw plastic. The price of recycled plastics is 30%-50% higher than the price of raw plastics. In addition, the color of the recycled plastic is darker and the color is more limited. 3. There are misunderstandings in the reuse of waste plastics. Volkswagen believes that recycled plastic products are inferior products that can only be treated as waste or directly degraded, losing their original chemical properties and having a heavy odor.

According to the “2011-2016 China Recycled Plastic Board Market Analysis and Development Prospects Study Report” published by Champ Consulting, China’s waste plastic recycling companies are still mainly SMEs, and the technology is still mainly based on physical recycling. The recycling of waste plastics is a complex process. With the technological innovation, product and industrial restructuring, China's waste plastic recycling products are developing toward high quality, variety, and high technology.