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Using waste plastic bottles to make scarves, transforming fly ash into green building materials, and reusing retired power batteries to restart a second life - waste continues to reshape its value, and China's circular economy is accelerating into a new stage of development.

 

The National Development and Reform Commission recently issued the "15th Five Year Plan for the Development of Circular Economy" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which clarifies that by 2030, China's major resource output rate will increase by about 16% compared to 2025, the annual comprehensive utilization of bulk solid waste will reach about 4.5 billion tons, the annual recycling of major renewable resources will reach 510 million tons, and the output value of the resource recycling industry will reach 8 trillion yuan.

 

Experts say that the "Plan" integrates existing management policies for circular economy in various fields, adheres to problem orientation, and constructs a full chain resource conservation, intensive and efficient circular utilization system in the new era and new situation, better playing the supporting role of circular economy in resource security and green low-carbon transformation.

 

Key areas to address weaknesses

 

Not long ago, in Qinghai, an important clean energy production base in China, a green circular industry chain made significant progress - the country's first 30 MW crystalline silicon photovoltaic module recycling pilot line with independent intellectual property rights. Retired photovoltaic modules are disassembled, pyrolyzed, sorted and other processes to be transformed into raw materials such as glass, aluminum frames, and silicon wafers. With the large-scale sales of over 120 tons of recycled products, the entire industry chain of photovoltaic retired module recycling, dismantling, sales, and reuse has been officially connected, transitioning from laboratory demonstrations to normalized commercial operations.

 

Over the past decade, China's new energy industry has flourished. From a time window perspective, the first batch of large-scale power batteries, photovoltaic modules, wind power equipment, etc. will enter the peak of retirement during the 15th Five Year Plan period. It is expected that by 2030, the "new three types" of new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products will generate millions of tons of solid waste.

 

Making up for the shortcomings in the recycling of important varieties of renewable resources is an important highlight of the 'Plan'. In response to the prominent problems of the 'new three types' of solid waste, measures such as improving scrap management, clarifying disposal responsibilities, and improving the recycling network will be taken to improve the level of standardized recycling and utilization, "said the relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission.

 

At present, the difficulties in evaluating the status of retired power batteries, tracking their flow direction, and unclear boundaries for hierarchical utilization are the key constraints on recycling. In response, the "Plan" proposes to strengthen the main responsibility of power battery and new energy vehicle production enterprises for recycling, establish a full life cycle recycling and utilization system for new energy vehicle power batteries, and strengthen product information traceability management. For photovoltaic and wind power equipment, the "Plan" requires the formulation of management measures for the recycling and utilization of waste wind power and photovoltaic equipment, and the introduction of industry standards for comprehensive utilization.

 

Zhu Liyang, President of the China Circular Economy Association, believes that the "Plan" is based on the new situation and changes. On the basis of consolidating the achievements of traditional category utilization, it will include "new three types" of solid waste in the recycling map and implement precise policies to advance the layout.

 

Around the key areas and categories of circular economy development, the "Plan" also focuses on enhancing the comprehensive utilization capacity of bulk solid waste, accelerating the high-value development and utilization of traditional "urban minerals", etc. Around the problems of insufficient standardization of circular utilization, prominent environmental risks and hidden dangers, and low level of resource utilization, the circular utilization path is refined by category.

 

Full chain efforts to improve efficiency

 

In recent years, China has achieved significant results in the development of circular economy. By 2025, the output rate of major resources will increase by about 77% compared to 2012, the comprehensive utilization rate of bulk solid waste will exceed 60%, the recycling and utilization of major renewable resources will exceed 410 million tons, and the output value of the resource recycling industry will reach 5 trillion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of around 10%.

 

The '15th Five Year Plan' period is a critical period for China's high-quality development and a decisive period for achieving the carbon peak target. The importance and urgency of resource recycling are becoming more prominent, and it is necessary to further increase efforts in circular economy to support the timely achievement of the carbon peak target, "said Zhang Deyuan, Director of the Circular Economy and Low Carbon Research Office at the National Development and Reform Commission's Institute of Economic Reform.

 

From the current progress, there is still significant room for improvement in China's circular economy in terms of resource output rate in key industries, waste recycling channels for key varieties, key technology processes, and industrial layout. This relies on strengthening institutional design, optimizing industry management, promoting technological innovation, and improving the level of resource recycling.

 

The Plan is based on the entire chain of production, consumption, recycling, and utilization. On the one hand, in accordance with the concept of "reduction, resource utilization, and reuse" in the circular economy, it comprehensively strengthens the recycling of resources in various fields and links, proposes three key tasks: comprehensively building a solid foundation for reduction, accelerating the improvement of resource utilization level, and continuously expanding the scale of reuse; On the other hand, focusing on the current difficulties and bottlenecks in the recycling process and the low level of industrial development, two key tasks have been proposed: effectively unblocking the waste recycling network and vigorously promoting the upgrading of the circular economy industry.

 

In the view of Zhang Yingjian, Director of the Resources and Environment Business Department of China International Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd., the "Plan" combines development characteristics to make multidimensional efforts to promote green transformation of the production end, tap the potential of "urban mineral" resource recycling, strengthen the efficient supply capacity of primary and renewable strategic mineral resources, and strengthen the construction of recycling networks, depicting a roadmap for the development of China's circular economy in the future period.

 

The 'Plan' not only puts forward requirements for green design, clean production, and comprehensive utilization of bulk solid waste, but also significantly increases related content such as digital technology and artificial intelligence, reflecting that China is taking digitalization and intelligence as the direction of promoting circular economy, and also as a key lever to improve the governance system of resource recycling industry, "said Mo Xin, Vice President of Tsinghua Suzhou Environmental Innovation Research Institute.

 

Optimize layout to promote upgrading

 

From the initial demonstration pilot to the later popularization of concepts, and now entering a new stage of high-quality development, after more than 20 years of continuous promotion, China's circular economy industry system has accelerated its construction. The "Plan" issued this time proposes for the first time to optimize the layout of circular economy industries and cultivate and strengthen the circular economy service industry.

 

Wang Xiaojue, an engineer at Tsinghua Suzhou Environmental Innovation Research Institute, believes that high-quality development means that the development of a circular economy can no longer simply rely on investment growth and capacity expansion. It should be guided by both scale and quality, and comprehensively improve industrial competitiveness.

 

The Plan takes industrial upgrading as the main axis and collaborates from four aspects: layout optimization, technology research and development, industry supervision, and service industry growth. In terms of industrial layout, it is required to investigate the project capacity layout, establish a capacity warning and regulation mechanism, and accelerate the cultivation of large-scale and specialized backbone enterprises in different fields. In terms of technological research and development, we will increase support for key common technologies such as intelligent sorting, fine disassembly, and high-end remanufacturing, carry out major technological equipment breakthroughs, and lead industrial development with technological innovation. In strengthening the circular economy service industry, support the establishment of specialized service platforms, cultivate specialized third-party service institutions, improve the information service system, and promote the transformation of circular economy towards the integration of "manufacturing+service".

 

The deployment of capacity warning and rational planning of project construction reflects the standardization of the market order for resource recycling and the deepening of the construction of a unified national market, which is conducive to further promoting the transformation of the resource recycling industry towards structural optimization, quality improvement, and efficiency improvement, "said Wang Xiaojue.

 

In Zhang Deyuan's view, a series of arrangements have solidified the four beams and eight pillars of circular economy development through high-level institutional supply, which is the key to the transformation of the resource recycling industry from scattered and weak to standardized, large-scale, and information-based. It will provide solid support for ensuring national resource security, achieving the "dual carbon" goal, and accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. (Economic Daily reporter Ji Wenhui Gu Yang)