China unveils plan for circular economy's next five years

China on Wednesday unveiled a new development plan to spur the circular economy in the next five years, according to the country's top economic regulator.

The new document, released by the National Development and Reform Commission, said it is of great significance to vigorously develop a circular economy and promote resource conservation and recycling, which will help ensure national resource security and further China's pledge to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and become carbon-neutral by 2060.

Under the plan, the circular economy — a model focusing on recycling, reusing and repairing raw materials and resources — will be a national priority during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

By 2025, a resource recycling industry system will be basically established and a resource recycling system covering the entire society will be basically completed. By then, resource utilization efficiency will be substantially improved, and the replacement ratio of renewable resources to primary resources will be further increased.

In particular, major resource productivity — which quantifies the relations between economic activity and the consumption of major material resources — is set to increase by about 20 percent compared with 2020. The energy consumption per unit GDP and water consumption per unit GDP will be reduced by 13.5 percent and 16 percent respectively. The comprehensive utilization rate of crop straw will remain above 86 percent, and the comprehensive utilization rate of both bulk solid waste and construction waster is set to reach 60 percent.

According to the plan, the use of wastepaper and scrap steel will reach 60 million tons and 320 million tons respectively, and the output of recycled non-ferrous metals will hit 20 million tons by 2025. By then, the resources recycling industry will be worth 5 trillion yuan.

The NDRC said it will ramp up more efforts to promote green design of key products, boost clean production in key industries, promote recycling development of parks, improve the recycling network of waste materials and improve the level of processing and utilization of renewable resources.

More efforts will also be made to promote well-regulated growth in the secondhand market, promote the high-quality development of the remanufacturing industry, build a recycling system for waste materials, strengthen the recycling of agricultural and forestry wastes, strengthen the recycling and utilization of waste agricultural materials, and implement a circular agricultural development model.