For a long time, the production, circulation and regeneration of plastics did not complete the entire life cycle change in a single country. Because China is the manufacturing center of the world and needs a lot of plastic raw materials, so before 2016, China bears all the The role of the transit base and final destination of the world's waste plastics processing and trade.
Since the implementation of China's 'forbidden waste', the global plastics trade chain has been reset, and most developed countries have been affected by this, especially in the United States. Before 2017, 50% of the US waste plastics will be shipped to China, so China plays an important role in the US recycling economy and recycling industry.
At the ChinaReplas2018 China Plastics Recycling and Recycling Conference held on September 13-14, Sunil Bagaria, Chairman of the Plastics Division of the American Waste Recycling Industry Association (ISRI), shared with us how the US waste plastics recycling industry views China's banned waste. Changes in the US market and recommendations for companies investing in the United States.
The US waste plastics industry is under great pressure but has unlimited business opportunities.
According to a global trade analysis conducted by researchers at the University of Georgia in the United States, it is concluded that by 2030, an estimated 1.11 tons of plastic waste will be buried or recycled. For the United States to handle large amounts of plastic waste, it is not so large. Infrastructure and digestive capacity, so the pressure is huge.
But Sunil Bagaria said that for his family, businesses and organizations, he saw huge business opportunities from this crisis and thought it was the best time to turn into business opportunities.
Another benefit is that recycling companies in the United States can now recycle higher quality recycled plastics. Because the United States used to export waste plastics to China or other countries and regions, the quality requirements for waste plastics were relatively low. Can be digested in the United States, the United States has higher requirements for recycling, so the quality of recycled plastics is improved, which is a particularly good news for most waste plastics processing companies.
Is Southeast Asia a good place for investment in the eyes of Americans?
A large number of Chinese companies are entering Southeast Asia. As a recycling company in the US, they are also confused. Is Southeast Asia a good investment destination? Of course, the advantages of Southeast Asia cannot be ignored: 1 close to China; 2 cheap labor; 3 relatively loose policy.
But in the eyes of Sunil Bagari, Southeast Asia is not the best choice for investment, because Southeast Asia does not have a large enough complete recycling infrastructure and systems, and in these countries, it is gradually aware of the importance of environmental protection.
Sunil Bagari personally visited several countries in Southeast Asia.
These are the real status quo of some recycling companies in Southeast Asia. These actions are irresponsible and shameful. It not only does not make this recycled raw material cleaner, but also pollutes the local environment. Sunil Bagari thinks all Recycling companies should be able to take responsibility for the entire environment.
Investing in the US waste plastics industry has great potential
First, the United States is vigorously developing a circular economy, requiring more product companies to use recycled plastics, which has great potential.
Second, as we all know, the United States is the headquarters and birthplace of many big brands. Under the public movement in the United States, these large companies in the United States must use a certain amount of recycled plastics, such as McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and their plastic products. About 25% of circulating plastics. Public pressure has led to policy changes, directly compulsing companies to invest in this area, is a great news for our circular economy participants.
Third, due to the ban on waste, the United States needs a large amount of digestive plastics. Therefore, the United States is currently in a situation of oversupply, and the price of waste plastics is very cheap. This is also good news for investors in waste plastics.
At the same time, for Americans, the recycling of plastics must be an important economic growth point for future development and efforts. The United States will produce one billion pounds of waste plastic in about two years, which is about one million tons. Such an order of magnitude must be digested in the United States, so such a digestive level is a very large cake for the enterprise.
Investing in the challenges facing the US waste plastics industry
First, the labor cost in the United States is particularly high. How to digest the labor cost, reduce the labor cost, and ensure the return on investment is the biggest challenge for US investment.
Second, the quality of the products is unstable. For the United States, good plastic manufacturing plants, such as Wal-Mart, will not have a uniform quality of discarded plastic products. Therefore, in the process of cooperation, both parties must have A strategic agreement to ensure that they have a good control of the production of waste plastics, to control the quality of products.
Third, the demand in the US market may not be so large, and we cannot completely digest the recycled plastic products we produce.
According to Sunil Bagaria, as an association, ISRI can call for and organize social public activities to force the United States to increase the demand for recycled plastic products from the legal level, and force large enterprises to use a percentage of recycled plastic products.
But in the end we may find that the price of the production cycle material does not have much advantage compared with the new material, even higher than the new material. This is a problem we all need to face together.
But no matter what, we must have an environmental awareness, there is only one earth, and we are all on this earth. Care for the earth, care for our future generations, is the starting point of our entire industry and the spirit necessary for each of us.