China has a huge
population base, and the pressure of resources and environment has become an important factor restricting economic and social development, so the recycling of renewable resources is imperative. As a common renewable resource, recycling of waste glass can not only save resources and energy consumption and reduce production costs, but also effectively reduce emissions and environmental pollution, which has both economic and environmental benefits. However, due to the low value and difficulty of waste glass recycling, the recovery rate of waste glass in China is less than 50% at present, and how to effectively recycle it is a problem worthy of discussion. This paper summarizes the output, recycling amount and recycling value of waste glass in China from 2011 to 2021, and analyzes the future development trend of waste glass recycling industry, in order to provide reference for relevant personnel.
In recent years, with the vigorous development and promotion of circular economy in China, the recycling industry of renewable resources has risen rapidly. In 2021, the total amount of recycling of ten kinds of renewable resources, including scrap iron and steel, scrap non-ferrous metals, waste plastics, waste tires, waste paper, waste electrical and electronic products, scrap motor vehicles, waste textiles, waste glass and waste batteries, exceeded 3. However, as a low-value recyclable material, waste glass has high recycling cost, low price and imperfect recycling system, which seriously restricts the high-quality development of recycling industry.
Glass is the most common in the field of construction and life, and it is also an indispensable material in the field of scientific research and high-tech. In fact, glass can be reused indefinitely . The recycling of waste glass can not only produce economic benefits, but also bring huge environmental benefits. China is a big producer and consumer of glass products, and the annual output of waste glass is huge. With the continuous attention of the state to the circular economy, the waste glass recycling market will usher in a broader development space in the future.
1. Waste glass industry overview
1. According to the source, it can be divided into daily waste glass (utensils glass, bulb glass) and industrial waste glass (flat glass, glass fiber). Due to different sources, there are some differences in the recycling of various types of waste glass. The sources of industrial waste glass are relatively concentrated, mainly the leftover materials produced by glass manufacturers, which are less difficult to recycle and easier to standardize recycling. However, the sources of daily waste glass are scattered, most of which are mixed in domestic waste, such as beer bottles, cosmetics bottles, etc., which make it difficult to recycle.
1. However, glass can be recycled indefinitely, so recycling is the most effective means of disposal. After classification and processing, the recycled waste glass can be used as raw materials for glass production, and can be made into glass containers, glass bricks and other glass products; it can also be used as an additive material, and can be processed into quartz stone slabs, artificial marble and other building materials. In addition, some waste glass containers can be reused after disinfection, such as beer bottles, soda bottles, soy sauce bottles and some canned bottles, which can not only save the cost of quartz raw materials consumed in the manufacture of new glass products, but also greatly reduce the amount of waste gas.
1. The law on the prevention and control of environmental pollution by solid waste, which was revised in 2020, further clarifies that the prevention and control of environmental pollution by solid waste should adhere to the principles of reduction, recycling and harmlessness, and makes further requirements on waste classification, recycling and prevention and control of environmental pollution. In February 2021, the State Council issued the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment and Improvement of a Green Low-Carbon Recycling Economic Development System, proposing to speed up the construction of a recycling system for waste materials, strengthen the recycling of renewable resources such as waste glass, and improve the output rate and recycling rate of resources. In July 2021, the Circular of the National Development and Reform Commission on the Issuance of the 14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Circular Economy emphasized the overall planning and construction of renewable resources processing and utilization bases, the promotion of classified utilization and centralized disposal of urban wastes such as waste glass, and the guidance of the agglomeration and development of renewable resources processing and utilization projects. In October 2021, the Circular of the State Council on Issuing the Action Plan for Carbon Peak by 2030 proposed that by 2025, the recycling of nine major renewable resources, such as waste glass, will reach 450 million tons, and by 2030, it will reach 5.January 2022. The Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of Waste Material Recycling System issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments encourage glass and other production enterprises to develop an integrated model of recycling, processing and utilization. Under the continuous guidance of relevant policies, the level of solid waste recycling and the recovery rate of waste glass in China will continue to improve, which will further benefit the development of waste glass recycling industry.
2 Current situation
of waste glass production and recycling in China 2. Glass products exist in all aspects of our lives. As a big glass consumer, the annual output of waste glass in China will exceed 15 million tons from 2013 to 2021. Glass is a key raw material for construction and manufacturing. Since 2013, driven by the real estate industry, the glass industry has developed rapidly, and the output of waste glass has increased year by year. In 2018, the output was about 18.8 million tons, down 8. In recent years, driven by new real estate projects and energy-saving renovation of existing buildings, the output of waste glass continued to grow from 2019 to 2021, reaching 22.75 million tons in 2021. 1. Year-on-year growth 2.
Figure 12013-output
of waste glass in China in 2021 2. Figure 2 shows the recycling volume of waste glass in China from 2011 to 2021. Before 2016, the annual recycling amount of waste glass is relatively stable, basically maintained at about 8.5 million tons. In 2017, under the influence of multiple factors such as the increase of flat glass production, the rapid development of daily glass and glass packaging container industry, and the active implementation of circular economy in China, the recycling volume of waste glass exceeded 10 million tons in that year, up 24. In recent years, the growth rate of recycling volume of waste glass has slowed down, and the recycling volume in 2020 is about 9.69 million tons. 3.
Figure 22011-China's waste glass recycling
in 2021 2. Due to high recycling costs, low profits and other reasons, the waste glass recycling market has been depressed for a long time before 2016. After 2017, the state has issued a series of policies, and the recycling market of low-value waste such as waste glass has ushered in a new turning point. At the same time, the prosperity of the domestic real estate industry has rebounded, and the tight margin of glass supply and demand has pushed up the spot price of glass, which has also led to the increase of the recycling price of waste glass, and the profitability of the industry has improved significantly. From 2017 to 2027, the recycling value of waste glass in China maintained an upward trend as a whole, with an annual growth rate of more than 5%. In 2021, China's waste glass recycling value exceeded 4.8 billion yuan, an increase of 15.
Figure 32011-China's waste glass recycling value
in 2021 3.
Uch as transparent color, green color, brown color, yellow color, black color and the like, the waste glass is firstly sorted, classified according to the color, and the surface coating is cleaned, and then the next step of treatment is carried out. This process mostly uses manual sorting method to select large impurities such as ceramics, stones and tiles, which has high labor cost, slow sorting speed and difficult to guarantee the quality of sorting. At the same time, a large amount of wastewater will be produced in the pretreatment stage, which will bring a series of environmental problems, making the cost of recycling far exceed the cost of glass manufacturing.
3. Compared with other renewable resources, the average recycling price of waste glass is the lowest. In 2021, the recycling amount of waste glass will be 10.05 million tons, accounting for about 2.9% of the total recycling amount of the above five renewable resources; However, the recycling value is only 4.8 billion yuan, accounting for only 0 of the total amount of recycling. In fact, for most residents, their motivation for recycling renewable resources usually comes from the economic benefits brought by higher-value recyclables. Due to the low price of waste glass recycling and the difficulty of handling, many residents directly mix waste glass into domestic waste and discard it together, thus bringing difficulties to the recycling process. In addition, for recycling enterprises, the low value of recycling means that the profits created are limited, which greatly affects the enthusiasm of enterprises to participate in waste glass recycling.
of Waste Glass and Other Renewable Resources in China in 2021 Note: The unit of recycling volume is ten thousand tons; The unit of recycling value is 100 million yuan
. 3. In recent years, although the recycling capacity of waste glass in China has been increasing, there has been a lack of a unified and perfect recycling system, resulting in only a small part of it being reused, and most of it is landfilled as garbage. Although China has issued some policies and guidance documents to encourage and support the development of waste glass recycling industry, there is still a lack of specific operational implementation rules, which is not enough to form medium and long-term policy guidance. In addition, there is a lack of incentive and subsidy policies for waste glass recycling. Because the environmental sanitation department can not deal with it, and there are some difficulties in the collection, loading and unloading of waste glass, and the recycling value is very low, if further investment is made in production equipment, environmental protection and other aspects, the profit space of recycling waste glass will be very limited, and some enterprises will face the dilemma of difficult operation. Large-scale operation is prone to losses, and small enterprises are difficult to develop and grow, which leads to the low enthusiasm of private enterprises to enter and limits the development of waste glass recycling industry.
4. Future development trend
of waste glass recycling industry 4. Wang Rui et al. Prepared excellent glass-ceramics with fluorite tailings and waste glass as the main raw materials, which provided a new idea for waste glass recycling; Wu Qian et al. [13] used waste glass as silicon source and found that mullite whiskers with high purity and large aspect ratio could be prepared in an appropriate temperature range. Waste glass as the main raw material can also be used to produce glass beads, glass mosaics, foam glass, glass bricks, artificial glass marble, quartz stone slabs, etc. At present, researchers are also conducting more in-depth research on the application of waste glass. As one of the most common materials, glass exists in every corner of our daily life. At present, the output of waste glass in China has exceeded 20 million t/a. In order to solve the problem of recycling, expanding the application of waste glass will become a research hotspot in the future.
4. Therefore, in the future, it is urgent to publicize the importance of waste glass recycling to the society, popularize relevant knowledge and classification methods, properly raise the price of waste glass recycling, gradually guide the whole people to participate in recycling activities, create a green and low-carbon atmosphere for resource recycling, and improve the utilization rate of waste glass recycling at the residential end. For example, the community posts the classification guidelines of renewable resources and the publicity slogans of waste glass recycling at the garbage recycling points, draws lessons from the experience of "old clothes recycling", sets up special recycling bins for waste glass for communities or public institutions, puts public service advertisements in public places, and enhances residents'awareness of waste glass recycling, so as to jointly promote the standardized recycling guidance of waste glass.
4. In order to solve the current constraints on the development of the industry and improve the recycling efficiency, in the future, China will continue to improve the relevant policy environment, continuously strengthen the top-level design of the policy system from the national level, enforce the recycling of waste glass in the form of law, and guide the market to establish an effective recycling system of waste glass. In order to mobilize the enthusiasm of enterprises, at present, more and more regions have issued corresponding incentive and support policies to encourage recycling enterprises to recycle waste glass by purchasing waste glass recycling and transportation services, setting up special subsidies for low-value recyclables, and providing financial support for major projects or key technologies. It will also become a trend in the future to jointly promote the development of waste glass recycling industry.
Conclusion
Recycling and utilization of renewable resources is an important part of construction of ecological civilization, an effective way to save energy and reduce emissions, and an decisive measure to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutralization. Waste glass is a renewable resource that can be recycled indefinitely, and its recycling is of great significance to save resources and reduce waste. In recent years, the output, recovery and recovery value of waste glass in China have been rising continuously, but the recovery rate is not high. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, resource recycling has become an important part of accelerating the green transformation of development mode. In recent years, the state has issued a series of policies to promote the development of renewable resources recycling industry, which will also have a positive impact on China's waste glass recycling industry.
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