China unveils recycling push to bolster resource security and shore up green transition
The nation seeks to narrow the gap with regional peers such as Japan and South Korea by establishing a more comprehensive, granular recycling infrastructure
China has called for expanding its industrial-resource recycling in the coming years, with a focus on recovering usable materials from discarded electronics, vehicles and clean-energy products as the nation seeks to strengthen resource security.
The blueprint, issued on Friday by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), frames the move as part of efforts to accelerate a shift to a green, low-carbon economy and to shore up supplies amid geopolitical pressures.
“The importance of resource security has become increasingly prominent, while the geopolitical dynamics surrounding green, low-carbon development have grown complex and severe,” the commission, China’s top economic planner, said in a separate statement about the multi-year plan.
Several quantitative targets were set. By 2030, Beijing aims to boost its resource productivity – the ratio of GDP to the consumption of major raw materials such as fossil fuels, steel and non-ferrous metals – by 16 per cent, relative to 2025 levels. Meanwhile, it targets a total output value of 8 trillion yuan (US$1.18 trillion) for the resource-recycling industry, up from 5 trillion yuan in 2025.
The blueprint says China intends to elevate its recycling industry to a world-class level by 2035, as the country seeks to narrow the gap with regional peers such as Japan and South Korea by establishing a more comprehensive, granular recycling infrastructure.
The latest action plan to boost the recycling industry came with the world’s second-largest economy approaching its pledged 2030 carbon-emissions peak on the path to carbon neutrality by 2060, even as it remains the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.