Waste Paper Utilization to Reach 60 Million Tonnes by 2025; E-commerce Express Parcels to Basically End Secondary Packaging; Second-hand Book Exchange Encouraged

On July 1, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Circular Economy" (hereinafter the "Plan"), requiring that by 2025 circular production methods be fully implemented, green design and cleaner production be widely promoted, the capacity for comprehensive resource utilization be significantly enhanced, and a resource-circular industrial system be basically established.

The "Plan" proposes that by 2025 a resource circular utilization system covering the whole society will be basically completed, resource utilization efficiency will be greatly improved, the proportion of renewable resources substituting for primary resources will be further increased, and the supporting and safeguarding role of the circular economy for resource security will be further highlighted. Among them, the main resource productivity rate will be about 20% higher than in 2020; energy consumption and water consumption per unit of GDP will fall by about 13.5% and 16% respectively compared with 2020; the comprehensive utilization rate of crop straw will remain above 86%; the comprehensive utilization rate of bulk solid waste will reach 60%; the comprehensive utilization rate of construction waste will reach 60%;

the amount of waste paper utilized will reach 60 million tons

, the amount of scrap steel utilized will reach 320 million tons, the output of recycled non-ferrous metals will reach 20 million tons, and the output value of the resource recycling industry will reach RMB 5 trillion.

Key projects and actions

The "Plan" proposes 11 key projects and actions. Among them,

the Urban Waste Materials Circular Utilization System Construction Project

requires focusing on municipalities directly under the central government, provincial capitals, cities with independent planning status and cities with larger populations, selecting about 60 cities to carry out the construction of waste materials circular utilization systems. The construction of urban waste materials collection and deposit points, transfer stations and sorting centers will be laid out in a coordinated way. The construction of renewable resource processing and utilization bases will be planned and coordinated, urban waste classification utilization and centralized disposal will be advanced, and renewable resource processing and utilization projects will be guided toward clustered development. Key urban agglomerations such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and Chengdu-Chongqing will be encouraged to build regional renewable resource processing and utilization bases.

the Action to Advance the Green Transformation of Express Packaging

requires strengthening the green governance of express packaging and promoting cooperation between e-commerce and manufacturers to realize original packaging direct shipping for key categories of parcels. Upstream and downstream enterprises in packaging production, e-commerce and express delivery will be encouraged to establish industry alliances; support will be given to establishing a qualified supplier system for express packaging products, and production enterprises will be pushed to conscientiously carry out packaging reduction. A green product certification system for express packaging will be implemented. Pilot projects for the large-scale application of recyclable express packaging will be carried out, and the application proportion of circular transfer bags (boxes) will be greatly increased. Efforts to promote and apply standardized, green, circular shared turnover boxes will be intensified. E-commerce and express delivery enterprises will be encouraged to cooperate with commercial institutions, convenience stores and property service enterprises to set up agreed collection points for recyclable express packaging and install specialized recycling facilities for recyclable express packaging.

By 2025, e-commerce parcels will basically no longer be subject to secondary packaging, and the scale of application of recyclable express packaging will reach 10 million units.

Standardized development of the second-hand goods market

The "Plan" proposes improving regulations on the circulation of second-hand goods, establishing and improving standards for the authentication, evaluation and grading of second-hand goods such as vehicles, home appliances and mobile phones, and standardizing the circulation order and transaction behavior of second-hand goods. The standardized construction and operation of offline physical second-hand markets will be promoted, and the building of centralized, standardized "flea markets" will be encouraged.

Schools at all levels will be encouraged to set up old-book sharing corners and sharing days to promote the exchange and use of old books among teachers and students.

Communities will be encouraged to regularly organize second-hand goods trading activities to promote the trading and circulation of idle items among households within their jurisdictions.

——This article is reproduced from China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-377718.html