Recently, the domestic local green recycled plastic production and marketing chain of custody standard was officially released. This means that China's green recycled plastics specification system is further improved, recycled plastics to achieve traceability, will open a new chapter in the green recycled plastics supply chain.

At the same time, Wang Yonggang, secretary-general of the recycled Plastics Branch of the China Materials Recycling Association, believes that the treatment of plastic pollution is a complex systematic project, and a perfect whole-life cycle management system needs to be established to deal with plastic pollution.

New standard

In recent years, with the economic development and the improvement of consumption level, China's plastic consumption has continued to grow. According to a report released by the Recycled Plastics Branch of the China Materials Recycling Association, more than 60 million tons of waste plastics will be produced in China in 2022, of which more than 18 million tons of waste plastics will be recycled, with a recovery rate of 30%, higher than the global average level of waste plastics recycling.

It is worth noting that in recent years, China's recycled plastics specification system has been continuously improved. The chain of custody standard for the production and marketing of green recycled plastics has filled the domestic gap and put forward specific requirements for the management and production process of enterprise plastic recycling, including corporate social responsibility, process control, material procurement, sales, outsourcing and other links.

"The production of recycled plastic products is like cooking, different people, different materials to make the taste of the dish will be very different. We are monitoring and tracking the whole process of recycled plastic 'cooking', and specific provisions are made for each link from material preparation to 'serving on the table', not only to supply safe and reliable green recycled plastics to the market, but also to further improve the management and operation level of recycled enterprises." Hou Cong, deputy director of the Green recycled Plastics Supply Chain Joint Working Group Office, explained.

By the China Petrochemical Association, China Materials Recycling Association, China Plastics Processing Industry Association and upstream and downstream enterprises jointly established the domestic industry chain platform to promote the plastic circular economy, constantly explore the conditions for the standardized application of green recycled plastics, fully absorb the advanced experience of domestic and foreign standards and norms construction at the same time, Create a local standard system for green recycled plastics, including standard system, certification system and testing system.

Following the release of the "General Rules for the Design Evaluation of Easy Recycling and Recycling of Plastic Products" in 2021 (hereinafter referred to as the "Double easy Design Standards") and the "back" symbol of the double easy logo, in 2022, the green recycled plastic specification system and the "re" symbol were released to allow more plastic waste to fully realize standardized recycling. In 2023, in order to support the use of the "re" symbol and further improve the standard system, China's local green recycled plastic production and marketing chain of custody standards throughout the entire industrial chain were released.

Industry pain points and difficulties are still to be solved

China is a big country of recycled plastics but not a strong country, and the problem of large but not strong recycled plastics industry needs to be solved urgently.

"At present, some generally have a more complete application specification system and certification mark for recycled plastics. Due to the lack of local relevant standards, China's recycled plastics industry still has low technical level, difficult quality control, lack of effective information transmission mechanism, difficult to carry out flow supervision and other problems." Hou Cong analysis.

Hou Cong believes that in the past, the main purpose of the application of recycled plastics in China was to reduce costs, without considering its sustainable value. The exploration in this field is limited to the trial of the extended producer responsibility system in some industries, and does not put forward mandatory requirements for recycled ingredients in products, which is not conducive to promoting the resource utilization of waste plastics. Some and regions have emphasized the important position of recycling applications in the construction of plastic circular economy from the beginning, and promoted it through certification and rules system, combined with strong social public opinion supervision pressure, forming a strong driving force for the plastic industry chain.

Li Kun, director of ESG promotion and strategic market of Jiangxi Green Recycling Industry Co., LTD., believes that at present, China's recycled plastics supply chain lacks an upstream and downstream supervision mechanism. Recycling of recycled plastics not only has resource properties, but also has significant environmental properties.

At present, the global material supply chain is vigorously promoting the use of recycled plastics, but whether the recycling process of recycled plastics is environmentally friendly, whether the product quality is guaranteed, whether the source can ensure the safety of materials and other process supervision needs to have mandatory control measures. Only through strict control measures, the waste plastics from the recycling end of the synchronous into the back-end modification, manufacturing, product application quality supervision system, the establishment of the whole process of traceability supervision mechanism, in order to improve the level of recycled plastics application technology, promote the green and environmental protection of recycled plastics industry chain, improve the competitiveness of China's recycled plastics recycling in the global market.

At present, consumer acceptance of recycled plastics needs to be improved. Both agree to strengthen resource recycling and improve the recycling level of waste plastics, but also worry about the addition of recycled plastics in the products they buy. The reason is that some consumers are still worried about the quality of recycled plastic products used.

In this regard, Li Kun believes that on the one hand, it is necessary to guide consumers to recognize and actively use recycled material products, take pride in resource recycling, and consume recycled plastic products as a fashion. On the other hand, it is necessary to improve the green level of the waste plastic recycling industry at the recycling end, strengthen the supervision of the import of recycled plastics at the manufacturing end, put an end to shoddy, and block the recycled plastics with unsafe, unguaranteed quality and unreliable sources from the manufacturing process.

"It is recommended to combine the actual situation of China's production technology and recycled plastics supply capacity, select some non-human contact application fields, put forward the recycling ratio requirements, and follow the requirements of the green recycled plastics standard system to track and certify the whole process and disclose information." Hou Cong said.

All parties in the industrial chain work together to solve the problem

At present, some recycled plastics industry related enterprises are actively making efforts to contribute to the development of the industry.

Recently, the recycled plastic particles produced by Jiangxi Green Recycling Industry Co., LTD., the air capsule packaging of Shanghai Aikatun Environmental Protection Technology Co., LTD., and the inflatable buffer packaging of Guangzhou Procter & Gamble Technology Innovation Co., Ltd. have respectively obtained the "re" symbol certification. "The fact that these three companies are recycled plastics producers, manufacturers and users speaks volumes about the flexibility and breadth of the standard, which can be applied to different scenarios." Hou Cong said.

Li Kun said that the chain of custody standard for the production and marketing of green recycled plastics has a great role in promoting the management level of enterprises and improving international competitiveness. The amount of waste plastics recycling in China ranks in the world, and local industry standards are needed to regulate the development of the industry. It is believed that with the official release of the standard, enterprises in the middle and downstream of the recycled plastics industry chain will be further standardized and expanded.

As a large environmental protection enterprise, Green Cycle currently has 3 waste plastic recycling plants, forming a nationwide waste plastic resource recycling and utilization system, the production of high-performance recycled plastics, into the world's top 500 supply chain system, widely used in electronic appliances, automobiles, luggage, stationery, daily chemical, home and other fields.

The products that P&G has obtained the "re" symbol certification are buffer packaging for product protection in e-commerce channels. "Being able to get the 're' symbol certification shows that the quality and safety of our products have been recognized by an authoritative third party, and we also hope that through this certification, we can popularize the knowledge of recycled plastics, enhance consumers' environmental awareness, and further improve the recycling rate of plastics." Said Zhou Wandi, director of packaging research and development for P&G China.

"I hope that more enterprise products can be certified and hang green recycled plastics labels, and I also hope that the green recycled plastics specification system can be more widely recognized and applied in the plastics industry chain." Hou Cong said.

In the view of industry experts, the release of the standard is only a step, to promote China's recycled plastics industry to become bigger and stronger, there is still a long way to go to prevent plastic pollution, and the government needs to work together to crack the problem.

"First of all, it is necessary to promote the construction of the green plastic circular economy rule system, carry out the overall layout of ecological design, recycling application and product carbon footprint as a whole, do a good job of top-level design, and improve standards and specifications and supporting implementation and certification rules." Secondly, it is necessary to strengthen the legislation of circular economy, clarify the meaning of recycled ingredients from the jurisprudence, gradually promote the mandatory addition proportion of recycled ingredients in products, and carry out standardized management of recycled applications. Finally, it is necessary to increase innovation investment in the field of ecological design, recycling application and product carbon footprint of plastic products, integrate the research and development resources of universities, research institutes and enterprises, and select key technologies and key nodes to focus on research. It is worth noting that we must strengthen public education, popularize the relevant knowledge of plastic pollution prevention and control, and persevere in publicity and education." "Wang Yonggang said.