Standing in 2023,

When filled with emotion,

Feel how 2024?

Zero bound point? First year of the primary cycle? A new era? A new paradigm?

Between the seasons, there are seeds of great change

ee 2023, understand 2024!

2023, plastic recycling industry

What's happening?

What does this mean for the future

Let's judge...

See through 2023, to see 2024

2024 is destined to be an extraordinary year!

Plastic recycling: New era, new paradigm

1, plastic Convention "zero draft" released

In May 2023, the second meeting of the INC (INC-2) was held in Paris, France, where the Chairman of the Committee was tasked with drafting an initial draft of a legally binding international agreement on plastic pollution, including pollution of the Marine environment, known as the "Zero draft".

On September 4, 2023, the "zero draft" of the plastics Convention was released, which means that the main structure of the legally binding global plastics Convention has been built, and the subsequent INC-3 and INC4 will negotiate around these frameworks, and the path and policy trend of the reconstruction of the plastics industry will be gradually clear.

The Zero draft puts forward 13 key elements for the whole life cycle dimension of plastics, including plastic production limit, problem plastic limit, product design, extended producer responsibility system, use of recycled plastics, waste management and so on.

2、Eu Amendments to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)

At the end of 2022, the European Commission published a proposal for a Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste (PPWR), namely an amendment to the current Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive 94/62/EC (PPWD).

PPWR has three main objectives: to prevent waste generation, to promote high-quality recycling, and to increase the use of recycled plastics in packaging.

Recently, the European Parliament approved the proposed amendments to the PPWR, which will change the regulatory scale of the EU on packaging in the future, the main points: increase the reduction target of plastic packaging; Food contact packaging prohibits the use of "chemicals"; Lower regeneration content targets that reduce exposure to sensitive packaging; All packaging should be recyclable; It is prohibited to use disposable products in the hotel, food and catering industry.

3, capital increase, a number of companies invested in China's plastic cycle industry

In 2023, there will be more investment into the circular industry, including professional financial institutions, the world's top 500, listed companies, polymer companies, etc.

On March 6, SK Chemical, a subsidiary of SK Group, announced that it signed a contract to transfer the assets of the Tree Industry Environmental chemical recycled raw materials and chemical recycled PET business, with a value of about 130 billion won.

On March 23, the Japanese listed company Aierteco Group signed an acquisition contract with Liupanshui Pucheng Environmental Protection Technology Company.

In June 2023, Jiangsu Xavier New Material Technology Co., LTD., A manufacturer of food-grade recycled plastics, completed A round of financing. The round was led by Guangfa Ganhe.

On September 20, Suez, the world's top 500 companies, signed a contract with Pacific Environmental Resource Management (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. to establish a cooperative company to build six post-consumer plastic recycling and sorting centers in East China.

On October 29, High-energy Environment (stock code: 603588) announced that it intends to invest a total of 140 million yuan to acquire 51% of Anhui Zhongxin Hongwei Technology Co., LTD.

In November 2023, Guangdong Bow Leaf Technology Co., Ltd. completed a series B financing of hundreds of millions of yuan, and this round of financing was invested by Sequoia China.

In December 2023, Shanghai Ruimo Environmental Protection New Materials Co., Ltd. completed tens of millions of yuan A round of financing, this round of investors for Wuyue Feng Science and Technology innovation, Asahi Kasei Investment, service provider for potential capital.

4, in some areas, waste plastics enterprises approved income tax

According to Article 8 of the "Measures for the Verification and Collection of Enterprise Income Tax" issued by the State Administration of Taxation, the range standard of taxable income rates of various industries is stipulated, and local tax authorities are required to determine and collect enterprise income tax in accordance with the principles of fairness, justice and openness, and comprehensively consider the geographical location, scale of operation, income level and profit level of enterprises according to the characteristics of the taxpayer's production and operation industries. The taxable income rate shall be determined on a household by household basis.

In 2023, Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Tianjin, Hebei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and other places have responded to this policy.

As a supplementary means of audit collection, the application of the approved collection shall conform to the circumstances stipulated in the Law on the Administration of Tax Collection and the Measures for the Approved Collection of Enterprise Income Tax (Trial). If a renewable resource recycling enterprise is faced with the problem of whether to choose to apply the approved collection, it should actively communicate with the tax authorities and keep relevant information for reference.

5, waste plastics chemical cycle industry accelerated, many chemical enterprises quietly layout

On October 25, 2023, the four ministries of the National Development and Reform Commission, the Energy Bureau, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting Green Innovation and High-quality Development of the Refining Industry", proposing:

Encourage qualified enterprises to explore waste plastics, waste lubricating oil, waste oil, waste gas production sludge and waste organic matter coupled with crude oil processing.

We will encourage the development of low-energy pyrolysis and purification pretreatment technologies for waste plastics, develop complete sets of technologies for deep processing of waste plastic oil with low carbon emissions, and accelerate pilot demonstrations of chemical recycling projects for waste plastics.

This policy solves the problem of setting the industrial guidance of the local government when setting up the project of the mixed plastic chemical cycle plant, and establishes the safety environment of the petrochemical refinery mixing oil, plastics, waste oils and fats together.

In addition, Sinopec, Wanhua Chemical, Tianjin Bohai Chemical, China Tianying, Jiutai New materials, aerospace petrochemical, Kemao Environment, Shuye environmental protection, Huicheng environmental protection and many other chemical enterprises are also in the layout of chemical cycle, a number of commercial projects in the landing.

6, renewable resources green sorting center, into the layout construction period

In May 2021, the revised "Renewable Resources Sorting Center Construction Management Code" was announced by the Ministry of Commerce and began to be implemented.

In 2022, the Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of the Recycling System of Waste Materials, requiring that by 2025, the recycling network system of waste materials should be basically established and more than 1,000 green sorting centers should be built.

In this policy background, many provinces have introduced the construction plan of renewable resources green sorting center, and many enterprises have rapidly laid out the layout to speed up the intelligent, digital and automated construction process of sorting center.

With the support of Xiamen Government and through the government-enterprise cooperation model, Xiamen Luhai Environmental Protection Co., Ltd. has established a national automated, intelligent and standardized low-value recyclable sorting center.

In January 2023, Hongye Technology reached a strategic cooperation with Beijing Ai Classification to accelerate the intelligent, digital and automated construction process of AI Classification Changping sorting center.

In 2023, TaiChu joined forces with Suez, one of the world's top 500 companies, to establish TAichu Suez Environmental Resources Management (Zhejiang) Co., LTD. In the next two years, the company plans to build 200 smart packaging stations across the country.

On June 14, 2023, Wukong will be launched, Wukong recycling adopts the international advanced intelligent recycled plastics industry chain sorting center complete sets of hardware and software, acquisition and sales of digital complete sets of solutions, established an O2O renewable resource recycling platform, is currently in the way of joining the rapid development.

In March 2023, Guangxi Wuzhou Guolong Renewable Resources Company cooperated with Sinopec Group to officially open the project of "Bottle House", a demonstration site for the comprehensive utilization of recycled plastics.

On November 25, 2023, Jiujiang Huicheng Environmental Protection Technology Co., LTD., a subsidiary of Huicheng Environmental Protection Group, officially broke ground on the Ruichang recycling and renewable resources sorting center.

In October 2023, Zhejiang Intertransport Zhihui Technology Co., LTD., with its leading digital technology advantages, was successfully selected into the 2023 intelligent manufacturing scenario list with the renewable resource sorting center - "human-machine collaborative manufacturing" case, which is also the domestic renewable resource sorting center case list selected in the list.

Intelligent, digital and automated construction process of sorting center, focusing on:

7, 13 institutions initiated: recycled plastic PCR self-regulatory organization was established

On November 7, 2023, the Self-regulatory Organization for Recycled Plastics PCR was officially established at the 28th China Plastics Recycling and Recycling Conference ChinaReplas2023.

China Synthetic Resin Association Plastic Recycling Branch (CPRRA), China Chemical Fiber Association Recycled Fiber Branch, Beijing Zero Waste Recycling Industry Promotion Association, Tianjin Yingchuanghuizhi Technology Co., LTD., Jiangsu Xeville New Material Technology Co., LTD., Taichu Ring Plastic Technology (Zhejiang) Co., LTD., Shandong Yingke Environmental Protection and Renewable Resources Co., LTD., Jinfa Technology Co., LTD Co., LTD., Veolia Huafei Polymer Technology (Zhejiang) Co., LTD., Zhejiang Lifu Technology Co., LTD., Shanghai Ruiju Environmental Protection Technology Co., LTD., Guangxi Wuzhou Guolong Renewable Resources Co., LTD., Hainan Yisheng Petrochemical Co., LTD., a total of 13 domestic head enterprises, industry associations as self-regulatory organization sponsors and the first members.

The recycled plastics PCR autonomous organization will promote industry self-regulatory management, carry out relevant basic theory/standard research, and establish credible PCR tracing technical means.

Two group standards are being developed, "Traceability Requirements for Waste Plastics recycling Part 1: Post-consumer recycled Plastics" (Program number CSRA2022002) and "Traceability Requirements for Waste Plastics Recycling Part 2: Marine Plastics" (program number CSRA2022003).

8, "PET biological recycling" gradually rise

"Biorecycling of PET" was selected as one of the "IUPAC Top 10 Emerging Technologies in Chemistry for 2023".

Biocatalysts have the advantage of being highly selective under mild process conditions, and recycling PET into its monomers and repolymerizing through biocatalysts is widely recognized as an ideal and environmentally friendly solution for PET recycling treatment.

Recently, Carbios, a French green chemical company, announced that it has obtained the construction permit and operating license of the world's PET biorecycling plant, starting construction in Longlaville, France, and will have a processing capacity of 50,000 tons of post-consumer PET waste per year.

In 2023, Yutian Biotechnology Company and Tianjin University Enzyme Engineering research group jointly developed a new PET biorecovery process based on chassis cell screening and by-product recycling.

In addition, various studies on the biorecovery of PET are also being conducted in several university laboratories.

9, In 2024, the central budget investment project application (pollution control and energy conservation and carbon reduction special) started

In September 2023, the application for investment projects within the central budget in 2024 (special pollution control and energy conservation and carbon reduction) has been launched, and a number of provinces and cities have issued a reserve notice for investment projects within the central budget in 2024.

According to the notice of the Development and Reform Commission on the issuance of the "Special Management Measures for Pollution Control and Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction Investment within the Central Budget" (No. 655 of the Environmental Regulation (2021)), the declaration is made.

On September 26, 2023, Shanghai Zili Plastic Technology Co., Ltd. announced that it would receive 25 million yuan of capital subsidies in the central pollution control and energy conservation and carbon reduction special project in 2023. The funds will be used to advance the intelligent integrated production project of 100,000 tons of high-performance PET plastic steel strip per year.

10. Carbon trading has initially opened up various links in China

On December 23, at the "2023 China Sustainable Investment Development Forum", Lai Xiaoming, chairman of the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange, said that China has built the world's largest carbon market. As of November 30 this year, the cumulative transaction volume of carbon emission allowances was 423 million tons and 23.57 billion yuan. Overall, the operation framework of the national carbon market has been basically established, and the key links have been initially opened up, and the expected goals have been achieved.

On December 21, Wang Naixiang, chairman of the Beijing Green Exchange, said that the Certified Voluntary Emission reduction (CCER) market is about to be launched, and revealed that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will release CCER series related policy documents in the near future.

In addition, the rapid promotion of carbon inclusive is one of the important measures to realize the "double carbon" strategy in China.

At present, there are three main types of carbon market in China. First, the national carbon market; Second, local carbon markets, including Hubei, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and other nine; Third, the carbon inclusive market, the main participants are small, medium and micro enterprises and residents.

11. The three-year action plan of "Replacing Plastic with bamboo" was released

In October 2023, the Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued the three-year Action Plan to accelerate the development of "Bamboo instead of plastic" (2023) No. 1375), proposing to build 5-10 bamboo instead of plastic application and promotion bases in the country to select areas with rich bamboo resources and good bamboo industry foundation.

Under the concerted promotion of relevant ministries and commissions, governments at all levels in major bamboo producing areas such as Fujian, Zhejiang, Guizhou, Guangdong and Sichuan have closely combined with the actual conditions of the local bamboo industry and introduced a number of targeted and high-gold policy measures.

The latest policy of waste plastics industry, focus on:

12, Zhejiang "Blue cycle" Marine plastic waste treatment project won the 2023 United Nations "Champion of the Earth Award"

On October 30, 2023, the United Nations Environment Programme announced that the "Blue Cycle" Marine plastic waste treatment project in Zhejiang won the 2023 United Nations "Champion of the Earth Award", providing a Chinese solution for the management of global Marine plastic waste.

Zhejiang Province has established a long-term system mechanism for the "blue cycle" Marine plastic waste treatment, which is currently the largest project for recycling Marine plastic waste in China.

The Party Central Committee and The State Council have always attached great importance to the control of the whole chain of plastic pollution, including Marine plastics. In recent years, multi-departmental coordination and linkage have introduced a series of policy documents to further promote the whole-chain management and supervision of Marine plastic waste.

13, the World Bank loan China plastic waste reduction project, officially effective

The World Bank (referred to as the "World Bank") loan to China's plastic waste reduction project is mainly used to improve the relevant systems, policies and standards of plastic waste management and plastic pollution control, and improve China's plastic waste management and plastic pollution control capacity, which is coordinated by the Development and Reform Commission.

Approved by the World Bank in June 2021 and officially effective on March 8, 2023, it is a plastic waste management project supported by the World Bank in China, and Chongqing and Ningbo have become the first cities to carry out comprehensive plastic waste management projects with financial and intellectual support from the World Bank. The total loan fund of the project is 430 million US dollars, of which Chongqing City received 270 million US dollars and Ningbo City received 150 million US dollars.

Shaanxi Province is the implementation site of the World Bank's urban and rural plastic waste Reduction Project (Phase II), with a loan fund of 250 million US dollars.

14. China and the United States are determined to end plastic pollution

On November 15, China and the United States issued a Sunnylands statement on strengthening cooperation to address the climate crisis. A total of 25 articles, ranging from energy transition to methane and other non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions, to greenhouse gas and air pollutant reduction coordination, have reached relevant consensus.

The United States and China are committed to ending plastic pollution and will work with all parties to develop a legally binding international instrument on plastic pollution, including in the Marine environment. In addition, the two countries aim to advance at least five large-scale cooperation projects on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) in industrial and energy sectors by 2030.

15. The EU bans the export of waste plastics to non-OECD countries

In order to reduce the transport of problematic waste outside the EU, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a provisional political agreement on 17 November to amend the Waste Transport Regulation.

Under the agreement, the EU will not be able to export waste plastics to non-OECD countries. Non-oecd countries that meet strict waste management standards may submit a request to the Commission five years after the entry into force of the Regulation indicating a willingness to import EU waste plastics.

The EU parliament said the EU must stop sending waste plastics to poorer countries within two and a half years of the legislation coming into force, and rules on exporting waste plastics to the OECD would also be tightened.

The agreement allows the export of non-hazardous waste plastics to the OECD, subject to the prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure. The agreement requires the Commission to strictly monitor the export of waste plastics to the OECD to ensure that such exports do not have a significant impact on the environment or human health, and to ensure that waste is properly managed there.

16, the European Union plans to make it mandatory for cars to contain 25% recycled plastic

On 13 July 2023, the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation on End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV). The new proposal focuses on the environmental responsibility, economic responsibility and social responsibility of the whole life cycle of automotive products, and puts forward detailed requirements for the recyclable design and the content of recycled materials of automobiles. The proposal proposes that new cars should contain at least 25% recycled plastic, of which 25% comes from recycled end-of-life vehicle ELV, that is, 6.25% of the plastic in new cars comes from end-of-life vehicles.

17, home appliance manufacturers to carry out recycling target responsibility system

On July 24, the Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced the implementation of the recycling target responsibility system action of a batch of home appliance manufacturers (Haier, Gree, TCL, Changhong, Midea, and Hisense).

On August 4, the "Notice on the Organization of the Second batch of Household appliance Manufacturers' Recycling target Responsibility System Action" pointed out that on the basis of the batch of household appliance manufacturers' recycling target responsibility system action, Encourage more household appliance manufacturers to actively expand recycling channels, innovate recycling methods, optimize storage facilities, smooth transportation networks, strengthen flow management, improve processing capacity and resource recycling.

18, low prices hit the European recycled plastics market

This year, a number of European associations issued a statement saying that the plastic recycling market across Europe will be seriously disrupted in 2023. A 50% drop in the price of recycled plastics and an influx of cheap external plastics threaten the European recycling industry and legal targets. Particularly in the field of PET recycling, Europe is facing a tough situation, with a 20% increase in European PET imports leading to a sharp drop in demand for locally produced recycled PET(rPET) and a 10% reduction in production.

This trend is being felt by all recycling companies in Europe, and the industry has been hit hard. Some recyclers have had to cut back on production, and some have stopped production altogether.

In 2023, what other major events are happening in the plastic recycling industry? You are welcome to leave a comment at the end of the article to supplement or correct the information...