Low-value garbage is also a good resource Xiamen turns 150,000 tons of low-value garbage into treasure every year
How to dispose of disposable lunch boxes, disposable plastic cups, styrofoam, waste plastic packaging bags and other common items in life after they are used up? A few days ago, the National Development and Reform Commission Economic System and Management Institute released the "Xiamen City Low-value Recyclables Recycling Model Research Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") shows that low-value recyclables such as common disposable lunch boxes in life are also valuable resources, and Xiamen City will turn 150,000 tons of "low-value garbage" into resources every year, with an economic value of more than 135 million yuan. The recycling of these low-value recyclables reduces CO2 emissions by around 435,000 tonnes per year from the plastic waste alone.
Zhang Deyuan, Institute of Economic System and Management of the National Development and Reform Commission, said, "At present, low-value recyclables, as an important part of waste, have become the biggest shortcoming of waste recycling because of their scattered sources and difficulty in recycling. The traditional incineration or landfill treatment method not only causes waste of resources, but also brings certain pollution and carbon emission problems, which cannot meet the new requirements of green, low-carbon and circular development in the new era, and urgently needs to explore new development concepts and find a more optimized development path. ”
Low-value recyclables are all types of waste that are recyclable from the point of view of the object itself, but require a high cost to recycle, resulting in poor economics and difficult to effectively recycle by relying solely on market forces. For example, disposable lunch boxes, disposable plastic cups, styrofoam, waste plastic packaging bags, waste beverage paper-based composite packaging, waste paper cups and bowls, waste textiles, waste glass and other solid wastes are common in our daily life.
In 2021, the amount of garbage removal and transportation in cities and counties across the country will reach 317 million tons, of which low-value recyclables such as waste glass, waste plastics, and waste textiles account for as much as 40%~50%, with an annual production of about 140 million tons, most of which are mixed with domestic garbage and other incineration disposal, and the average utilization rate of materials is less than 30%.
According to the report, in recent years, Xiamen has preliminarily explored a low-value recyclable recycling model covering the front, middle and back ends, which is "government overall deployment support, professional operation of enterprises, and active participation of residents" in combination with domestic waste classification. The government has strengthened the land security of the sorting center by issuing a guidance catalogue for low-value recyclables, entrusting specialized enterprises to carry out market-oriented operations, promoting the integrated development of domestic waste classification and low-value recyclables classification and recycling at the recycling end, building a low-value recyclables sorting center at the disposal end to improve the efficiency of recyclable sorting, and promoting the effective connection between the sorted low-value recyclables and the back-end recycling base, so as to build a closed-loop low-value recyclables recycling system. The government transferred the subsidies originally used for the collection, transportation and disposal of domestic waste to the recycling and sorting of low-value recyclables, which realized the transformation of waste into treasure without increasing the financial burden.
Through continuous advancement, the construction of low-value recyclables recycling system in Xiamen has achieved good economic, environmental and social benefits. According to the calculation of operation data, the comprehensive selection rate of low-value recyclables in Xiamen has increased from 72.72% in 2020 to 74.31% in 2022. Xiamen turns 150,000 tons of "garbage" into resources every year. In the resource utilization base, these sorted recyclables will eventually be produced into recycled plastics, recycled pulp and other resource products, with an economic value of more than 135 million yuan. The recycling of these low-value recyclables reduces CO2 emissions by around 435,000 tonnes per year from the plastic waste alone.
According to the report, although the operation of low-value recyclables in Xiamen has achieved good results, it still needs to be further improved. The report suggests that, first, continue to strengthen the publicity and education of domestic waste classification, and carry out extensive publicity in shopping malls, universities, government agencies and other concentrated places to improve the classification accuracy of low-value recyclables; The second is to study to further expand the coverage of low-value recyclables, such as considering the inclusion of bulky garbage in the scope of low-value recyclables; The third is to further strengthen the technological innovation of resource utilization, carry out the research and development of advanced technologies such as chemical recycling of mixed low-value waste plastics, and develop advanced technologies and industrial applications such as intelligent machine sorting; Fourth, we will continue to promote the effective connection between the domestic waste classification and recycling system and the low-value recyclables collection and transportation system, take resource utilization as a priority policy option, take incineration as a backstop measure, accelerate the construction of a sound waste recycling system, and improve the comprehensive utilization rate of waste resources.
(Source: CPPCC Network)
