Why do some companies still not have enough to eat? The road to resource utilization at the end has been opened up in small workshops | garbage | enterprises

When Shanghai first implemented garbage classification, the biggest concern for residents was whether the garbage sorted at the front end would be mixed again at the end?

Now, there is a good answer to this question. Since the implementation of the Shanghai Municipal Regulations on the Management of Domestic Waste for more than three years, garbage classification has become a new trend in Shanghai. Significant achievements have been made in the reduction, resource utilization, and harmless treatment of domestic waste. The waste separated by residents not only does not mix and transport, but some of it even becomes a coveted commodity for enterprises after being collected. Recently, the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress conducted law enforcement inspections and inspections on several environmental protection enterprises, which were quite eye-catching, allowing representatives to see vivid cases of turning waste into treasure.

However, the law enforcement inspection by the Municipal People's Congress also found that the technical bottleneck of end-of-life recycling has been overcome, but some enterprises have encountered the problem of "insufficient food" to varying degrees. What are the reasons behind this? To move towards a higher level of waste free city construction, what other links do we need to connect in the construction of a waste recycling system?

The joys and sorrows of enterprises

Waste plastics are a major sub area of garbage classification. The foamed plastics discarded after taking out the express delivery once faced a recycling dilemma: because 90% of the ingredients were air, low density and large volume made it difficult to recycle, only 30% of the waste plastics were recycled every year, and the remaining 70% were improperly discarded, randomly burned or buried.

"Every link of plastic recycling is very difficult, even more difficult when combined, but we have innovated and opened the whole industrial chain of plastic recycling." A waste plastic environmental protection enterprise showed the delegates its self-developed capacity reduction and density increase equipment, which can quickly accumulate the waste foam compression volume to the original 1/50, without secondary pollution and zero emissions in this process. These foamed plastics have been recycled and transformed into picture frames, photo frames, and home decorations. They have also been used in more industries, such as building insulation boards, injection molded office supplies, sanitary coatings, and automobile casings. Along with mass production, it also brings enormous environmental value: reducing 200000 tons of carbon emissions and 300000 tons of crude oil annually, protecting 2 million trees from being cut down.

Waste bins made from resource recycling and utilization

Zhongqi Environmental Protection Technology, located in the Fengxian Xinghuo Development Zone, is also a giant recycling enterprise that recycles "gutter oil". Through an integrated closed-loop operation chain model of collecting, transporting, disposing, and using kitchen waste oil, we aim to convert it into biodiesel for public transportation.

These environmental technology companies have achieved a leading position in their respective sub sectors, but they have encountered a problem to varying degrees, which is that they cannot eat enough raw materials. Zhongqi Environmental Protection has a processing capacity of 150000 tons, but sometimes only a few tanker trucks are driven in throughout the day, which is far from its maximum daily processing capacity. For a period of time, the company received less than 30% of the "gutter oil" from upstream production capacity. At present, the amount of recycled gutter oil by enterprises is much better than before, but the phenomenon of insufficient food still exists.

Xinguang Recycling is also an environmental friendly enterprise engaged in comprehensive recycling of renewable resources, focusing on the disassembly of electronic waste and electronic components of end-of-life vehicles. The company's scale and progressiveness technology are in the leading position in the industry. It also has a similar problem, compared to the current dismantling capacity of the enterprise, the amount of discarded equipment recycled every day is far from enough, and it is in a "half full" state.

Why can't you eat enough

Why do environmental protection companies suffer from "eating but not running"? Is it because the waste materials separated from the source are not enough?

The reporter found through relevant data inquiry that the amount of wet garbage, waste plastic and other waste entering the transfer station is much higher than what enterprises need, which means it can completely satisfy their appetite. So, is it the fierce competition among enterprises in the end segment that makes more monks than porridge?

The relevant departments have conducted research on "gutter oil" and found that a group of "guerrilla teams" that illegally collect and dispose of kitchen waste oil monopolize some of the "gutter oil" resources, overcharge downstream disposal enterprises, and some even sell kitchen waste oil to informal disposal channels for profit.

The reporter learned that the garbage distributed by residents first goes through the process of cleaning personnel. Currently, most communities are sent cleaning personnel by property management or third-party enterprises. This group with meager income may dispose of garbage at will. If environmental protection companies send people to recycle garbage from the source, the cost is also very high. Some companies have stated that building a recycling and regeneration factory requires investment of billions, as well as several innovative technologies, and the cost of recycling is an important factor to consider. "In the process of recycling waste plastics, we also encounter many small workshops providing us with raw materials, but they cannot issue formal invoices, and some even do not have a business license."

Huang Chen, a representative of the 14th Municipal People's Congress, conducted a survey on the recycling and utilization of "waste concrete". She found that there are more than 10 enterprises in Shanghai that meet the production standards in this field, which can fully absorb the recycling and utilization of 8 million tons of waste concrete in Shanghai every year. However, these regular armies are facing the situation of "not having enough to eat", because a large number of "black workshops" without production licenses and with substandard technology occupy the market.

In the view of the representatives, if the kitchen waste oil, waste plastics, and other waste generated at the source cannot be fully collected, it means that a portion of the garbage may enter small workshops and factories, and these enterprises often have limited technological capabilities.

Calculate economic and ecological accounts together

"We have connected the entire industry chain business model from recycling to recycling, and public environmental awareness is further improving. However, the recycling industry is still struggling." In the interview, many companies said, "This is a difficult but valuable thing.".

Tianqiang Environmental Protection is another circular recycling enterprise inspected by the National People's Congress. Its chairman, Hu Xichao, comes from Yiwu and started from collecting waste. After 20 years of deep cultivation and development, it has integrated the upstream and downstream industries and has now become a service provider for the operation of the entire industrial chain of renewable resources and circular economy. It is also the first pilot enterprise in China to integrate the two networks for garbage classification.

To encourage independent innovation and industrial integration in the industry, during the 13th Five Year Plan period, the government issued relevant policies to "shut down one batch, cultivate one batch, and support one batch", which to some extent improved the structure of the entire environmental protection industry and had a significant effect. "The recycling and utilization industry of waste plastics has a long chain and a large number of employees, presenting a scattered characteristic." Hu Xichao believes that there are currently more than 200000 enterprises engaged in the waste plastic processing industry. To achieve effective treatment of waste plastic pollution and high-value application of recycled plastics, the government needs to start from the perspective of waste lifecycle management, introduce relevant policies, and enable relevant practitioners in this industry chain to cooperate and upgrade technology.

The standardized sorting of waste plastics after the integration of two networks

"Economic and ecological accounts should be calculated together." In Hu Xichao's view, the government spends money on garbage classification and ecological governance, while resource recycling and utilization make money. To change the extensive business model of small workshops and guerrilla forces, and prevent garbage from flowing into tax havens, the government needs to connect the industrial and living chains, integrate the environmental sanitation network with the regeneration network, and calculate the economic and ecological accounts together. This will help to open up the entire path of garbage resource utilization, optimize and improve the overall structure of the environmental protection industry.

At present, Shanghai has built more than 15000 recyclable material recycling service points, 198 transfer stations, and 15 collection and distribution yards, forming a basic system of recyclable material "points, stations, and yards". "Around the full chain governance, we should break through bottlenecks in policy formulation and tax mechanisms." Representatives suggested that we should leverage the enthusiasm of enterprises to participate and achieve the "full collection of receivables" of low value recyclable materials. The government should consider tax preferential policies from the top-level design, and truly benefit environmental protection enterprises with subsidies. For example, revising relevant support policies and increasing the subsidy ratio for fixed asset investment in the recycling of solid waste from 20% to 30%. If individuals and businesses are unable to declare and issue compliant invoices, this technical challenge can be solved through an all-in-one information system.

"The garbage recycling industry is not synonymous with dirtiness, disorder, and poor quality." Representatives believe that building a waste free city should attract more young people to join this industry. A decade ago, people's understanding of this profession was that it was dirty, messy, and bad. They had to deal with garbage all day long. However, today, the environmental protection industry is a sunrise industry with broad prospects. We hope that more aspiring individuals can join this industry, expand and strengthen the resource recycling industry, and promote the "new fashion" of household waste classification to a new level.