With Chinese cities growing at unprecedented speed and scale, the sheer amount of the waste they produce has become a major worry, and an opportunity. It is becoming increasingly lucrative for companies to recycle this waste.
Over 20 million plastic bottles are thrown away every day in the Chinese capital—a headache for city officials, but a lucrative business for some.The INCOM Recycle Co. factory in the suburbs of Beijing is the biggest bottle-to-bottle production line in Asia—and the only one in China. On the assembly line, the plastic bottles are separated and then broken down into polyester chips.
"These are the end result of the whole process. They can be used to make bottles again. The conventional recycling of bottles is to make them into clothing, but that means the plastic is only used once. As we know, plastics are extracted from oil, so if keep the plastics, oil is definitely saved." said Chang chao, General Manager of Incom Recycle Co.Ltd
Working at full capacity, this factory alone could save 300,000 tons of oil a year. That's enough to keep all of Beijing's taxis fueled for a year. While some consider INCOM a good model for China's recycling economy, the reality is company’s cutting-edge machines have spent most of the past four years silent.
"Ideally, this place should be buzzing with the sound of plastic being separated and bottles being created out of the waste with some of the best European technologies. Normally, this assembly line can process over 2.2 billion bottles a year, but now, it is not creating even one, because they can't get the bottles they need."
INCOM's major competitors are these people—the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who collect garbage from neighborhoods, schools and shopping malls. They purchase the waste from residents by the kilos for a small amount of money. In most cases, they're welcomed. "I accumulate all the waste at home, from paper to plastics and to metal, and then bring them out here to be sold." said a Beijing Resident. By some estimates around 90 percent of the bottles in Beijing are recycled this way. The question is where do they go? Just 30 minutes outside central Beijing, at a secret recycling yard, we are met by a sea of bottles. Most of workers don’t want to speak to us. "We don’t do business in plastics. We do cans."
"They sell the plastics to some small and irresponsible factories to make chemical fiber. They don't have sewage treatment or any proper environmental protection facilities. The chemicals left are most likely emitted into rivers and lakes." said Liu Xuesong,Deputy General Manager of Incon Recycle Co.Ltd. This thriving black market leaves recycling companies like INCOM struggling to cope. Recognizing the problem, the government has been closing down secret recycling sites and tightening regulations over where the waste goes. There were around 130 of these sites in Beijing. Now there are 90—a decline of more than 30 percent. Authorities have also written policies to encourage recycling in the hope that these cutting-edge machines will be operating again soon.
"Beijing's battle over the bottles are just one of the many forefronts of China's war on urban waste. Across the country, the huge and still increasing amount of rubbish has become a major challenge for the burgeoning cities. Authorities are not just launching tough measures, but also try to leverage the market to make environmental protection a profitable business.