China Plastic Waste Management Market Overview, 2028

Rapid industrial development since the mid-20th century has led to an increased demand for plastic products and the rapid accumulation of waste. According to estimates from the National Bureau of Statistics of China in 2020, between 2004 and 2019, approximately 335.46 million tonnes of plastic waste were generated in the country. Plastic waste management refers to methods and approaches used to reprocess plastic material rather than dumping it into landfills, waterways, or otherwise allowing it to pollute the environment. The reduced use of virgin plastic in product manufacturing is the most important factor promoting plastic waste management.

According to the research report “China Plastic Waste Management Market Overview, 2028, published by Bonafide Research, the market was valued around USD 5.5 Billion in 2022. Plastic production is increasing as urbanisation and industrialization expand. The increase in the number of commercial venues such as malls, theatres, restaurants, hospitals, educational institutions, and others results in an increase in the amount of plastic waste, which eventually opens up more opportunities for the need for waste management. Additionally, raising awareness about plastic recycling and reprocessing waste materials are important factors in driving demand for plastic waste management. The awareness about plastic waste management has increased significantly with the progress in consumer education and rising awareness about health and environment. The growing population and the growing income levels of people have generated new opportunities for the plastic waste management industry.

China has made policy progress in addressing this critical issue. In 2018, the Chinese government banned all imports of non-industrial plastic waste, and in 2020, the government called for a gradual phase-out of non-degradable plastics in the nation and improvements in the mechanisms of production, consumption, recycling, and disposal. The renewable resources recovery system, which includes waste plastics recoveries and recyclers, is the primary path to recycling waste plastics. Small companies are being replaced by large ones, and the whole industry is growing in size and becoming increasingly standardized. In 2019, there were more than 3,000 companies registered in China that engaged in waste plastic processing, and 300 of them were able to process over 10,000 tonnes of recycled plastic per year, including 50 companies with an annual processing capacity of more than 50,000 tons. There are recovery outlets across China able to recover more than six million metric tonnes of plastic waste per year. Large plastics recycling marketplaces and processing/distribution centres are mostly in the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, and Liaoning and are evolving into recovery and processing clusters with increasingly centralised transactions.

Based on the source, the plastic waste management market is segmented into residential, commercial, and industrial. During the forecast period, the industrial sector is expected to dominate the market for plastic waste management in the China due to an increase in industrialization and the packaging of the products. Because packaging has a very short life span, typically around 6 months or less, packaging of the product is one of the key factors that will dominate the market growth of the plastic waste management market in the China.

Based on end use, the plastic waste management market is segmented into building & construction, consumer products, electrical and electronics, industrial machinery, packaging, and automotive. The packaging segment is expected to dominate the plastic waste management market in the China due to the increasing demand for plastics for the packaging of products to protect, preserve, transport, and display information. Plastic is an important basic material widely used in production and life. Non-compliant production, use, and disposal of plastic products will cause resource and energy waste, environmental pollution, and even threaten public health and safety. On January 16, 2020, the NDRC and the MEE jointly issued the Opinions on Further Strengthening Plastic Pollution Management, proposing to increase the supply of green products while requiring plastic product manufacturers to make plastic products that meet relevant standards in strict accordance with the governing laws and regulations and to not use non-compliant chemical additives harmful to human health and the environment.

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Manmayi Raval

Research Consultant

The scarcity of treatment plants is one of the most serious issues confronting plastic waste management. Several manufacturing units and sources dump their plastic waste into bodies of water or on land; additionally, a lack of understanding of waste management infrastructure is a challenge for this market. Furthermore, plastic waste management is a capital-intensive process. Processing and treating waste necessitates skilled and motivated labour, which raises operating costs and reduces profit margins. This is expected to have a negative impact on market growth during the forecast period.

Considered in this report
• Geography: China
• Historic year: 2017
• Base year: 2022
• Estimated year: 2023
• Forecast year: 2028

Aspects covered in this report
• China plastic waste management  market with its value and forecast along with its segments
• Various drivers and challenges
• On-going trends and developments
• Top profiled companies
• Strategic recommendation

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By Source Type
• Residential
• Commercial & Institutional
• Industrial

By Service Type
• Collection and Transportation
• Recycling 
• Incineration
• Landfills

By End use
• Building and Construction
• Consumer Product
• Electrical and Electronics
• Industrial Machinery 
• Packaging
• Automotive 
• Others

The approach of the report:
This report consists of a combined approach of primary as well as secondary research. Initially, secondary research was used to get an understanding of the market and listing out the companies that are present in the market. The secondary research consists of third-party sources such as press releases, annual report of companies, analysing the government generated reports and databases. After gathering the data from secondary sources primary research was conducted by making telephonic interviews with the leading players about how the market is functioning and then conducted trade calls with dealers and distributors of the market. Post this we have started doing primary calls to consumers by equally segmenting consumers in regional aspects, tier aspects, age group, and gender. Once we have primary data with us we have started verifying the details obtained from secondary sources. 

Intended audience
This report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations & organizations related to Plastic waste management, government bodies and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing & presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.