Recycling park breathes new life into old industry

"Clean" might be the last word that would come to the average person's mind when thinking about a large-scale petrochemical base.

But the management of the Jilin Chemical Engineering Circular Economy Park says they hope to change that.

Visitors to the park, located in Northeast China's Jilin province, might have a hard time believing it is a petrochemical plant complex. Recycled products, such as plastic bags made of coke tins, tissues transformed from varied petrochemical materials and toothpicks made of amylum, are quite common in the park.

As one of the pillar industries in Jilin province, the petrochemical industry has a long history.

In recent years, Jilin has used its innovative capabilities in petrochemicals to convert existing scientific and technological achievements into productivity, and they have begun to promote circular economy.

"Control of quantity, reuse and recycling are the keys for Jilin petrochemical's advanced development," said Yang Yu, employee of the park.

The park now includes more than 90 percent of the province's essential production factories for petrochemicals. Its transformation and development mark a major turning point of the whole industry in Jilin province, according to Yang.

The park includes three "recycling circles". One is a clean production circle in every plant to maximize the use of resources. Another is a re-use circle among different plants to realize the efficient interchange of materials. The last is the information circle, which offers timely information about recycling.

In essence, all the plants in the park form an integrated network where the wastes of factory A become the materials of factory B.

Through the smooth operation of the three circles, in Jilin Chemical Engineering Circular Economy Park, there are more than 100 products. Over 60 of them are produced on a large scale, and have certain quotas in domestic markets.

The provincial government approved the park in Jilin city in October 2008. Its goal was to exploit to the fullest the city's existing industrial advantage by forming a scaled petrochemical plant base, thereby promoting the economic development of Northeast China as a whole.

At present, 238 companies, including Jilin Petrochemical Company under PetrolChina, Jilin Fuel Ethanol Co Ltd and Jilin Chemical Fiber Group Co, have settled in the park.

Meanwhile, eight industrial chains have been formed, covering oil refining, refined chemical, bio-chemical fields, and offer 115 kinds of refining products.

These abundant and varied chemical products guarantee the sustained development of the whole industry in Jilin province.

Contact the writer at shaowei@chinadaily.com.cn