To support the government
Due to the numerous links and technical difficulties in recycling used plastic bottles, recycled vina pet resin has no price advantage over raw materials, which is a consensus in the international community. Therefore, for the sake of low-carbon environmental protection in developed countries, some policies will be introduced to support recovery and recycling companies.
what is pet resin?
A common practice is "extension of production responsibility." For example, Switzerland stipulates that beverage distributors, manufacturers and importers are responsible for recycling packaging; the Japanese government introduced the "Container Packaging Recycling Act" in 1997 and also stipulated that beverage companies must bear the full cost of beverage container recycling. This is in line with the principle of "who pollutes and who pays" proposed in the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan".
The other is the mandatory use of recycled vinapet pet resin. For example, Germany stipulates that companies that produce beverages should use recycled plastic bottle materials, or impose high taxes. Multinational corporations such as Coca-Cola and Danone, although they do not have relevant regulations in China, still actively use 10% of recycled materials, pvc resin,which is a major customer of Yingchuang.
In addition, there is one important difference between the plastics recycling industry at home and abroad in the developed countries, and almost no one will sell waste plastic bottles or boric acid flake for sale. Instead, they will throw the plastic bottles into very detailed sorting bins. They will even take the initiative to unscrew them and place them separately. Therefore, in developed countries, titanium dioxide , plastic bottle recycling costs are very low, and there are very few sorting costs. Even domestic PET companies import low-cost “bottle packages” from abroad.
Liu Xuesong also told the author that many plastic bottle recycling machines similar to automatic vending machines can be seen on the streets of Japan. They can use mobile phones to take a QR code and exchange points online. In contrast, Yingchuang placed similar equipment in the Beijing and Shanghai pilots. It did not occur that the human-caused destruction of the equipment was very serious and the publicity campaign had to be ended early.
An industrial chain for the recycling of waste plastic bottles can reflect the comprehensive situation of a society in terms of waste classification, waste recycling, environmental protection, the rule of law, policy support and public awareness. When the days of recycling and recycling companies are getting better, it is the time when the foundation of a low-carbon society is going to be stable. On August 20, the author visited Yingchuang, Tianzhu Airport Industrial Park, Shunyi District, Beijing and interviewed Liu Xuesong, deputy general manager of the company.
PET, like other plastics, comes from the refining and processing of petroleum. According to the China Packaging Federation, China produces 3 million tons of plastic bottles each year. The consumption of 18 million tons of oil is equivalent to one year's output of a medium-sized oil field.
She told reporters that most plastic bottles that are usually recycled have a number “1” at the bottom of the bottle, which means that the chemical composition is PET (polyethylene terephthalate). The general mineral water, carbonated beverages, and functional beverage bottles are all made of this material, and their heat resistance is easily deformed to 70°C, and repeated use for a long time may release harmful substances.
One use of recycled plastic bottles is for the textile industry. PET is also a raw material for polyester staple fibers and filaments. After recycling waste plastic bottles, they can be processed into chemical fibers to make clothes. "However, the plastic bottle is a food-grade PET, which is much harsher than the polyester production conditions. It is recycled into chemical fiber, its quality is degraded, and it cannot be recycled. Therefore, we call it "degraded utilization." Liu Xuesong said.
Another use is the "peer use" of "bottle" to "bottle." Yingchuang has the only PET recycling system in Asia that meets food safety standards. Here, plastic bottles are cleaned, bottles and caps and stickers are separated, bottles are crushed and melted, and finally PET slices are made and sent to the blowing factory. New plastic bottle.
However, Yingchuang's recycling volume accounts for only 20% to 30% of Beijing. “Actually, the recycling rate of plastic bottles in Beijing is very high. Of the plastic bottles with a total consumption of 150,000 tons, 98% of them were eventually recovered, but they have mainly flowed into the textile industry.”
She said that since the beginning of last year, the price of cotton has soared, driving the prices of chemical fiber to record highs. Small factories that recycle plastic bottles have almost doubled their profits. In order to grab raw materials, small workshops have raised the purchase price, which is the direct reason for the increase in the price of used plastic bottles.
With "small crushed" grab raw materials
Walking into Yingchuang Recycling Resources Co., Ltd., a lawn like lawn, and a clean factory, it is hard to imagine that this is actually a company dealing with waste beverage bottles.
The 4-meter-high “bottle-bottle” neatly stands on the distant grass. The workshop is also a methodical scene. This “environmental protection enterprise” with its main business of resource regeneration has reached the standard for zero discharge of waste water and waste gas.
However, there is another kind of recycling workshop called “small smashing” around Beijing, where there is another scene. In the exhibition hall of Yingchuang Company, the writer saw a “small smash” in a shocking production scenario mining underground water, stealing high-voltage electricity, cleaning the bottle with high-strength industrial alkaline water, and crushing and melting plastic with the simple equipment that the factory eliminated. Bottle, made of short fibers of poor quality. The waste gas and waste water discharged by these workshops are toxic and pollute the air and groundwater.
"So, recycling does not mean environmental protection. Circular economy needs to be achieved by high and new technology. In a country with a recycling tradition and a high recovery rate in China, it is even more necessary to prevent the occurrence of secondary pollution," said Liu Xuesong.
What's terrible is that these workshops are all illegal businesses. They don't pay taxes and don't pay utility bills. The cost is very low. Smaller chemical fiber companies are willing to purchase their products. Nor will they request value-added tax invoices from scrap collection stations, so scrap yards are willing to sell their raw materials.
"Pengchuang now needs to raise the price by about 10% before it can grab raw materials with "small smash." The cost pressure is very high. It can be said to be a ton of loss of one ton." Liu Xuesong said that Yingchuang is building its own resource recovery. The center will later cover the whole city and build its own raw material channels. The goal is to receive 30% of waste plastic bottles from Beijing to reduce circulation and reduce costs.
Gratifyingly, Beijing now has increased its crackdown on illegal workshops. It is believed that in the near future these workshops will completely disappear.
