Chemical Recycling of Waste Plastics: Bright Prospects Yet Less Than 1% Market Share – Industry Breakthrough Calls for Policy and Standards（3）
Low-value waste plastic resources have yet to play a greater role.
In terms of waste plastic resources, China has a large potential of low-value waste plastic resources, which mainly exist in solid wastes such as domestic garbage, decoration waste, waste plastics from paper mills, and waste agricultural films. However, at present, low-value waste plastics in China are mainly used for incineration to generate electricity or heat. In 2024, the amount of waste plastics generated in China reached 62 million tons, with 19.5 million tons being physically recycled, accounting for only 31%. Most of the rest were disposed of through incineration and landfilling.
Looking at the harmless treatment of urban domestic waste in 2023, for which data is available, incineration accounts for 82% and landfilling accounts for 7%. Based on the calculation that plastics make up 15% of domestic waste, approximately 31.43 million tons of waste plastics are disposed of through incineration, and about 2.84 million tons through landfilling. Waste plastics in domestic waste have the greatest resource potential, but they fail to exert their maximum effect under the circumstance that China's incineration power generation capacity is already in surplus.
In addition, the annual potential of waste plastics from construction and decoration waste is approximately 13.85 million tons, waste plastics from paper mills are 3.15 million tons per year, and waste agricultural films are 1.13 million tons per year. Among them, the waste plastics from construction and decoration waste, after sorting, are mainly used to produce refuse-derived fuel, which is used as fuel in production facilities such as cement plants, and can obtain carbon emission reductions resulting from this. If the carbon accounting method in the cement industry remains unchanged, the usage is expected to increase in the future. Waste plastics from paper mills are generally used for incineration in paper mills to recover heat or for downgraded physical recycling.
The above-mentioned low-value waste plastics currently have corresponding downstream application scenarios. If these low-value waste plastics are used for chemical recycling, it will not only involve the balance of rights and interests of stakeholders, but also involve a series of issues such as the formulation of price systems, the construction of recycling systems, and the approval of sorting plant construction. It still requires cooperation between industries and the introduction of relevant policies for guidance.
Expert Viewpoint: Promote the Establishment and Development of the Chemical Recycling Industry for Waste Plastics
Li Mingfeng, President of SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, pointed out that the petrochemical industry should actively explore the stable supply of low-value waste plastics, formulate and introduce product standards as soon as possible, establish a local certification system, and clarify the direction of product encouragement.
Encourage the chemical recycling of low-value waste plastics. Chemical recycling of waste plastics is superior to incineration in terms of resource conservation, environmental benefits, carbon emission reduction, and economic efficiency. In addition, China's waste incineration power generation capacity is already in surplus, with most enterprises operating at low load. In the future, as subsidies "decline", the economic efficiency of waste incineration power generation will gradually deteriorate, and enterprises will also face the problem of transformation and development. The carbon emissions generated by the combustion of the fossil-based part of the waste-derived fuels used in the cement industry may be included in the carbon trading system in the future. Therefore, from both the perspective of policy trends and economic efficiency, the future use of low-value waste plastics for chemical recycling is an inevitable trend. Waste plastic chemical recycling enterprises should actively cooperate with incineration power generation enterprises, decoration waste sorting enterprises, etc., to research and explore reasonable ways to utilize waste plastics.
Formulate standards and industry regulations for chemical recycling products of waste plastics quickly and strictly. As chemical recycling projects for waste plastics in China are gradually implemented and their production capacity increases, relevant product standards should be formulated and released as soon as possible to promote the free circulation of waste plastic chemical recycling products such as pyrolysis oil from waste plastics in the market. For the healthy and long-term development of the industry, it is also necessary to strictly formulate relevant product standards and industry regulations for the chemical recycling industry, so as to prevent projects with environmental protection issues such as "crude oil refining" of waste plastics from "passing off fake as genuine" to defraud subsidies and disrupt the market.
Establish a certification system based on the mass balance method as soon as possible. China has a large base of waste plastics, and the characteristics of its industrial chain are different from those of other countries. It should not simply adopt the systems of other countries and regions in the world. Instead, it should "start anew" and introduce supportive and guiding policies with Chinese characteristics and establish an independent certification system in accordance with China's national conditions. According to existing foreign experience, the mass balance method is an important pillar for promoting the development of the chemical recycling industry of waste plastics, and it is also a prerequisite for policy implementation, standard compliance, and enjoyment of various incentive measures. The selection of the three sustainability share allocation methods and product directions of the mass balance method needs to be determined based on national conditions. It is recommended that in the initial stage of establishing China's waste plastic chemical recycling industry, priority should be given to the use of the free attribution method to encourage the use of waste plastic chemical recycling products on a larger scale. Considering the importance and complexity of the mass balance method, efforts should be made to strengthen publicity to promote the rapid popularization of this method in the industry, so as to promote the rapid development of the chemical recycling industry of waste plastics and achieve a wider range of waste plastic pollution control.
