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Taolang Chang Xinjie: "Low-value" recyclable plastics are the key to improving the recycling rate of plastics and the recycling rate of household waste
On May 25th, Mr. Chang Xinjie, Vice President of Circular Economy Business of TOMRA Group in Asia, held the Youxie Innovation Plus theme of "Diversified Recycling Solutions Helps Sustainable Packaging Development - Take You to the Packaging Industry" On the online forum of "Green Revolution"", he shared the theme of "Collection, Sorting and Recycling of Waste Plastics from Life Sources". At present, there is a relatively mature model for solving high-value waste plastics. After independent collection through the deposit system, it can be sorted and recycled, and even 100% of the bottle-to-bottle can be used for beverage packaging. However, plastic packaging is not only PET and HDPE. How to improve the resource utilization rate of a large number of "low-value" domestic waste plastics has become an urgent problem to be discussed. At the beginning of the sharing, Mr. Chang Xinjie introduced recycling. The so-called recycling (Recycling), according to the definition of the Circular Economy Promotion Law, refers to the direct use of waste as raw materials or the recycling of waste. The process of recycling and utilization of waste at the material or material level. Waste incineration power generation is only a recycling process at the energy level (the priority is lower than the material-level regeneration), and it does not belong to the recycling economy, nor should it belong to the category of circular economy. Chang Xinjie said that a large amount of waste plastics in many countries, including those in the world, are incinerated. Many of these waste plastics are based on very high-carbon petroleum-based materials, and every 1 ton of waste plastics will emit 2.7 tons of carbon dioxide. , If waste plastics become waste and are pulled and burned, there will be additional carbon emissions. From production and use to incineration, the carbon emission of 1 ton of plastic is about 5 tons; but from the perspective of resource utilization, if the same level of recycling at the physical level can be achieved, then every ton of waste plastics will have 3.5 tons to 4 tons. In the context of my country's dual carbon goals, the importance of carbon emission reduction is particularly prominent.
Taolang Chang Xinjie: "Low-value" recyclable plastics are the key to improving the recycling rate of plastics and the recycling rate of household waste
1. The recycling of waste plastics is inseparable from sorting
The recycling of waste is an industrial production process from raw materials (wastes) to products (recycled materials). It can be regarded as a recycling factory. The raw materials produced and processed by the factory need to be of high purity and meet the requirements of processing properties. At present, the vast majority of domestic waste collection networks obtain a mixture of various materials with different material properties. Therefore, sorting has become an essential key link in the process of recycling.
Taolang Chang Xinjie: "Low-value" recyclable plastics are the key to improving the recycling rate of plastics and the recycling rate of household waste
2. Collection system—a necessary prerequisite for resource utilization
Taolang Chang Xinjie: "Low-value" recyclable plastics are the key to improving the recycling rate of plastics and the recycling rate of household waste
Plastic packaging is currently a linear economy and urgently needs to transform to a circular economy
Collection is a very important link. The picture above is from a report on the plastic economy of the MacArthur Foundation. Although the numbers have changed, it still clearly illustrates the problem of plastic pollution caused by plastic packaging in the current linear economy. This is mainly because currently only a small part of plastics can be collected for recycling after use, and the vast majority of plastics have not been collected at all. After a small part is collected, only a small part of it is used for homogeneous or high-value regeneration, and most of it is used for degraded regeneration and loss in the process. On the whole, the global plastic pollution control, including the plastic packaging problem, starts from two aspects. The first is to increase the collection efforts, improve the collection rate, and at the same time reduce the loss of resources and reduce carbon emissions; in addition, the collected waste More plastics are entering the process of homogenization or high-value utilization, which is also very important to the overall circular economy.
3. Domestic Status
Ideal: "high-value" waste plastics, such as plastic bottles - recycling system
Reality: Waste recycling network: opaque, secondary pollution, low-value utilization
China is currently promoting garbage classification, some of which are recyclables. It is hoped that through the front-end classification of residents, recyclables will be put into recyclable bins, and a standardized collection, sorting, and resource utilization system will be established. This is a A very ideal state, but not yet achieved. Most of the time, products with relatively mature recycling needs, such as plastic bottles, rely on the existing waste recycling network. This is a very irregular collection and recycling process, which will also cause the process to be opaque and secondary. Secondary pollution and low-value utilization are the main problems. Overall, my country's current model is comparable to the existing model developed in Europe for decades.
Taolang Chang Xinjie: "Low-value" recyclable plastics are the key to improving the recycling rate of plastics and the recycling rate of household waste
For high-value waste plastics (mainly plastic bottles), they can be sorted and recycled after being collected independently through the deposit system, and even 100% of the bottle-to-bottle can be used for beverage packaging. But in addition, if you want to improve the utilization rate of resources, you must collect more, collect other packaging through the green dot system under the extended producer responsibility system, and then enter the resources through a special sorting center Chemical utilization plants, and finally form high-quality recycled materials back to the production and use of products. The beverage bottle deposit system is similar to our current waste recycling network, except that Europe is relatively a more regulated system. The classification of recyclables in my country actually covers some other non-bottle packaging, similar to the Green Dot system. Chang Xinjie believes that Europe has worked out a set of models after decades, which is of more reference significance for my country.
Improvement 1: Standardized collection, sorting and recycling of recyclables buckets Currently, many cities in my country have a collection system for recyclables after garbage classification. The sorting center classifies it into categories, and only when the purity of the material reaches the standard can it enter the scene of resource utilization. Domestic sorting centers are still mainly based on manual sorting, and there are still various challenges and problems in manual sorting. When the collection volume reaches a certain level, an obvious trend is automation. Some cities in Shanghai have begun to upgrade the automation of sorting centers into sorting centers.
Improvement 2: Collection system based on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Consumer Deposit System (DRS) In order to better collect waste, it is necessary to give more value to "waste" and make it more resource-attributed It is no longer garbage; producers are not only responsible for fulfilling the traditional responsibilities of producers, but also responsible for extended responsibilities in improving design, establishing recycling systems, and using recycled materials, and even take full responsibility for the entire system; consumers in Under the deposit system, there is also a certain responsibility to take the empty bottles to the designated trading point to complete the classification, which is particularly important for the construction of ecological civilization in the whole society.
Taolang Chang Xinjie: "Low-value" recyclable plastics are the key to improving the recycling rate of plastics and the recycling rate of household waste
Taolang Chang Xinjie: "Low-value" recyclable plastics are the key to improving the recycling rate of plastics and the recycling rate of household waste
Although there is a relatively mature model for solving high-value waste plastics, plastic packaging is not only PET and HDPE. As shown in the figure above, PET bottles are only used in 3% of the global use, and a large number of low-value waste plastics Recycling is still an issue.
The key to improving the recycling rate of plastics & domestic waste recycling rate
- "Low-value" recyclable plastics
Chang Xinjie mentioned that after doing four classifications in the southeast coastal cities in China, he analyzed other garbage components and found that 20%-30% of them are various waste plastics. If these waste plastics can be taken It will bring more benefits to use and resource. The resource utilization of low-value recycled plastics is the key to improving the overall resource utilization rate of plastics and the recycling rate of domestic waste.
Taolang Chang Xinjie: "Low-value" recyclable plastics are the key to improving the recycling rate of plastics and the recycling rate of household waste
Improvement 3: Standardized collection, transportation and sorting of "low-value" waste plastics - Xiamen Model Chang Xinjie mentioned that Xiamen has formed a model, that is, by redefining the recyclables of garbage classification, recyclables The category in this expanded to consider almost all plastic packaging to be recyclable, high or low value. Let residents put all of them into recyclable buckets, and establish a collection, sorting and recycling system for plastic packaging recyclables.
To promote the classification system of low-value recyclables is to separate low-value recyclables from other garbage, which can not only recycle resources, but also effectively reduce the pressure of other garbage classification. Sorting capacity is a challenge in the establishment of a low-value recyclables system. Xiamen will further carry out the construction of the whole chain, and build and build the city's low-value recyclables collection, transportation and disposal system. ——Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Landscape Architecture
Improvement 4: Sorting of other garbage/dry garbage, the collection should not rely on residents' classification and delivery. Technically speaking, the direct sorting of other garbage or dry garbage can be a good complementarity for residents' classification and delivery. Simplify the front-end classification tasks of residents, and complete the classification through centralized automatic sorting later. Sorting can be regarded as a very good supplementary link in the centralized system of classification and delivery.
4. Case Sharing: Outstanding Achievements in Mixed Waste Sorting—Norway IVAR Project
Taolang Chang Xinjie: "Low-value" recyclable plastics are the key to improving the recycling rate of plastics and the recycling rate of household waste
· Recyclables recovery rate (recycling/total recyclables) increased from 28% to 82%
· The recycling rate of domestic garbage (recycling amount/total domestic garbage) is also as high as 56.4%
· Achieving the EU's 2025 recycling rate target of 55% ahead of schedule
Taolang Chang Xinjie: "Low-value" recyclable plastics are the key to improving the recycling rate of plastics and the recycling rate of household waste
In general, collection can be done in a variety of ways, from stand-alone collections to systems that can be recycled and released. After the collection is completed, there must be a special sorting center. Whether it is a physical cycle or a chemical cycle, the sorting center can better enter into the recycling and utilization of resources through the linking role of the sorting center. It is really impossible to do energy recovery in the process of recycling and resource utilization, and the final residues go to landfill disposal. Chang Xinjie believes that the establishment of this system will be a trend, and the technology is already very mature, and the enthusiasm has also been verified to a certain extent.
