Recycled Plastics Account for 25% of Plastic Raw Materials; Achievements of the "Two New" Policies Released
Recycled plastics account for 25% of raw materials used in plastic production, which means that for every 4 tons of plastics produced, 1 ton comes from recycling and regeneration. Behind this proportion lies the sustained policy-driven demand for recycled materials. In particular, the growth of waste plastic output brought by the trade-in program in sectors such as automobiles, home appliances, and consumer electronics is accelerating the formation of a closed-loop system of collection – recycling – reapplication.
Looking ahead, a number of policies issued intensively from the end of last year to the beginning of this year have laid a solid foundation:
The Eco-Environmental Code elevates the promotion and application of recycled materials into a legal system;
The Action Plan for Promoting the Application of Recycled Materials sets a clear target of an annual output of over 19.5 million tons of recycled plastics by 2030;
The Guidelines for the Construction of Green and Low-Carbon Supply Chains by Central State-Owned Enterprises incorporates the procurement of recycled materials into the performance assessment of central enterprises.
With legal safeguards, industrial development targets, and rigid procurement requirements for central enterprises working in tandem, recycled plastics are evolving from an alternative option into a standard raw material configuration.
On February 23, 2024, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over the Fourth Meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission, which reviewed issues concerning large-scale equipment upgrades and trade-in programs for consumer goods.
On March 7, 2024, the State Council issued the Action Plan for Promoting Large-Scale Equipment Upgrades and Trade-In Programs for Consumer Goods, rolling out systematic arrangements for the "Two New" initiatives.
Over the two years since the implementation of the "Two New" policies, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant central departments and local governments, has strengthened overall coordination, enhanced central-local synergy, steadily improved the policy system, and optimized implementation mechanisms. A total of 800 billion yuan in ultra-long special treasury bonds has been allocated in 2024 and 2025, advancing four key actions—equipment upgrades, consumer goods trade-ins, recycling and circular utilization, and standards enhancement. The policies have effectively stabilized investment, boosted consumption, promoted industrial transformation, and improved people’s well-being.
I. Remarkable Achievements in Large-Scale Equipment Upgrading
The initiative has effectively driven investment growth. In 2024 and 2025, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant authorities, allocated funds from ultra-long-term special treasury bonds to support over 13,000 equipment upgrading projects, leveraging a total investment of more than 1.8 trillion yuan. This drove national investment in the purchase of equipment, tools and instruments to rise year-on-year by 15.7% and 11.8% respectively in 2024 and 2025, pushing up overall investment growth by 2.2 and 1.8 percentage points accordingly.
It has strongly underpinned industrial upgrading. Driven by the equipment upgrading policies, the total number of upgraded equipment in key sectors exceeded 48 million units (sets), advancing the intelligent and digital transformation and upgrading of related industries. In 2024 and 2025, the added value of high-tech manufacturing as a proportion of the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size rose by 0.6 and 1.4 percentage points respectively compared with 2023; the proportion of the added value of equipment manufacturing increased by 1 and 3.2 percentage points year-on-year against the 2023 level.
It has consistently improved people’s well-being. Around 2.2 million units (sets) of old agricultural machinery were scrapped and replaced nationwide in 2024 and 2025 alone, 7.5 times the total volume recorded in the 12 years since the launch of the agricultural machinery scrappage and replacement subsidy pilot policy in 2012, delivering tangible benefits directly to farmers.
Support was provided for the replacement of 167,000 old residential elevators, the scrappage and renewal of 900,000 old commercial freight vehicles, and the upgrading of 127,000 new energy urban buses and their power batteries, helping eliminate potential safety hazards in people’s daily lives and travel.
II. Consumer Goods Trade-In Programs Widely Popular
The programs have effectively stimulated consumption vitality. In 2024 and 2025, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant departments, adopted innovative working methods and directly allocated a total of 450 billion yuan in ultra-long-term special treasury bond funds to local governments to support the implementation of consumer goods trade-ins nationwide. Over the two years, the initiative drove sales of automobiles, home appliances, digital products and other goods to exceed 3.9 trillion yuan, benefiting 4.8 billion person-times.
It has strongly bolstered bulk consumption. The average growth rate of passenger vehicle sales stood at about 4.6% in 2024 and 2025, while retail sales of home appliances, audio and video equipment above designated size maintained double-digit year-on-year growth for two consecutive years.
It has accelerated the popularization of green and smart products. During the trade-in campaigns, over 60% of consumers purchased new energy vehicles, and sales of first-class energy-efficiency home appliances accounted for as high as 90% of the total. Sales of smart watches (bands), smart glasses and other smart products achieved substantial growth.
III. Continuous Improvement in Resource Recycling and Utilization
Recycling outlets have expanded in coverage and improved in quality. The integrated development of domestic waste sorting networks and renewable resource recycling networks has been further advanced, and the three-tier recycling system consisting of collection and delivery outlets, transfer stations and sorting centers has continued to expand. Over the past two years, more than 29,000 intelligent renewable resource recycling facilities have been newly added in communities nationwide, while the supply and marketing cooperative system has built or renovated over 4,000 standardized and regulated recycling stations.
The scale of resource recycling and utilization has grown rapidly. A total of 17.673 million end-of-life vehicles were recycled across the country in the two years, achieving an impressive average annual growth rate of 45.8%. Approximately 53 million waste home appliances and mobile phones were formally dismantled, with an average annual growth rate of around 12%. Recycled resources now supply about 27% of raw materials for steel production, 33% for copper, 31% for aluminum, and 25% for plastics.
The standardization level of the industry keeps rising. China National Resource Recycling Group has been established, accelerating the construction of a nationwide functional platform for resource recovery and reuse. The policy allowing recycling enterprises to issue reverse invoices to sellers of scrapped products has been fully implemented, benefiting over 15,000 enterprises with invoiced amounts exceeding one trillion yuan.
IV. Standard Upgrading Plays a Leading and Driving Role
A total of 294 key national standards are planned for formulation and revision in the fields of large-scale equipment upgrading and consumer goods trade-ins, all of which have been officially released.
In terms of equipment upgrading, 113 national standards covering energy consumption quotas, equipment energy efficiency, pollutant discharge and carbon emissions have been issued. These standards force the upgrading and replacement of high-pollution, high-energy-consumption and high-risk equipment, and accelerate the phasing out of backward production capacity.
For consumer goods trade-ins, 115 national standards have been released for home appliances, furniture, automobiles, kitchen and bathroom appliances and other categories, effectively improving the quality and safety level of consumer goods.
In the area of recycling and circular utilization, 66 national standards have been issued concerning the recycling and utilization of retired new energy vehicle power batteries, waste electrical and electronic products, and decommissioned photovoltaic modules, providing strong support for the efficient circular utilization of waste products and equipment.
Going forward, the National Development and Reform Commission will fully implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council. It will continue to work with local governments and relevant departments to effectively enforce the optimized scope of support, subsidy standards and implementation approaches for the 2026 "Two New" policies. The Commission will properly manage and make good use of the 450 billion yuan ultra-long-term special treasury bond funds allocated this year for the "Two New" initiatives, strengthen full-chain management of projects and funds across all links, and further unleash the policy effectiveness of the "Two New" program.
(Source: National Development and Reform Commission)
