The plastics and rubber industry is under the pressure of rising raw material and logistics costs, and is also facing challenges brought by unstable currency inflation and complex international environment. At the same time, global climate change and waste pollution control are gaining increasing attention.

As one of the crucial parts of the low-carbon and circular economy, how can the plastic recycling industry seek new opportunities in the environment full of economic and environmental challenges?

CHINAPLAS' concurrent event, the 4th Edition CHINAPLAS x CPRJ Plastics Recycling and Circular Economy Conference and Showcase 2023, was grandly held today (Apr 16) at Crowne Plaza Shenzhen Nanshan, China with more than 800 industry experts participating.

Scan the QR code for the photo album and bilingual video review.

The conference was hosted by CHINAPLAS and Adsale Plastics Network. It was supported by Green Recycling Plastic Supply Chain Group, China Plastic Recycling Association of CPRA, GDPTA, Shenzhen Mobile Communications Association, Guangdong Association of Circular Economy and Resources Comprehensive Utilization and Shenzhen Polymer Industry Association.

The forum included over 40 presentations in three Parallel Sub-Forums, a Summit Forum, a private meeting, a mini sharing session, and over 50 leading exhibitors showcasing their latest solutions concurrently.

Morning Session

Rita Chu, Vice Chairman of Adsale Group

In her welcome remarks, Rita Chu, Vice Chairman of Adsale Group, said that plastic circular economy has become a global issue in addition to the industry hot topic. Along with the changes of the policies and the industry advancement, plastic circular economy will be further developed under the close collaboration between the industry chain partners.

Driven by the United Nations and national policies, the global plastic recycling market is becoming more active, she added. According to the latest report of Expert Market Research, the global plastic recycling market is expected to have a compound annual growth rate of 6% from 2023 to 2028.

Kai Zhao, Executive Vice President of China Association of Circular Economy (CACE)

Kai Zhao, Executive Vice President of China Association of Circular Economy (CACE), discussed the main tasks of green packaging development in the "14th Five-Year Plan". They include promoting the process of green transformation; developing and advancing the key technologies of recyclable, reusable and compostable plastic packaging materials; coordinating the life cycle management of plastic packaging products; eliminating and limiting unnecessary disposable plastic packaging products, and so on.

Professor Edward Kosior, Founder and CEO, Nextek Limited, presented via video.

In his presentation “Closing the Loop on Post-Consumer Food-Grade Polypropylene (PP)”, Professor Edward Kosior, Founder and CEO, Nextek Limited shared his opinions on the challenges of recycling.

He said that most materials are designed to be processed only once, and the printing and coloring on packaging limit the recyclability. Therefore, recycling-friendly formulas are required. Besides, mono-material can be widely recycled and has high value.

Kongsak Dokbua, Vice President, Plastics Market Intelligent Department, Plastics Institute of Thailand

Kongsak Dokbua, Vice President, Plastics Market Intelligent Department, Plastics Institute of Thailand, gave a brief introduction about the development and policies of plastics industry in Thailand. Dokbua said that "BCG Economy" is the new investment direction encouraged by the Thai government, which aims to promote the sustainability of biological resources, enable the community to drive the upstream of the value chain, boost technological innovation in green manufacturing, and build the local ability to cope with global changes.

Ying Na Ph. D., Sr. Manager SABIC Petrochemicals, Greater China Market Development, SABIC

Ying Na Ph. D., Sr. Manager SABIC Petrochemicals, Greater China Market Development, SABIC, introduced the Trucircle portfolio, including mechanically recycled products, high-recycled compounds, and compound-reinforced resins for recycling, which features improved processability and end-use performance. Moreover, these high-performance products enable higher circularity and reduce carbon footprint. 

Dr. Winnie Xiong, Co-founder & CTO, Shanghai Re-mall Environmental Protection New Material Co., Ltd.

In her presentation, Dr. Winnie Xiong, Co-founder & CTO, Shanghai Re-mall Environmental Protection New Material Co., Ltd., shared how the company has created its business model and optimized its operation management covering supply chain construction of plastic waste, value assessment of waste materials, batch management, recycling cycle management, establishment of quality control standards and cost control.

Amy Song, Marketing Manager Food & Specialty Packaging Packaging and Specialty Plastics, Asia Pacific, DOW

Amy Song, Marketing Manager Food & Specialty Packaging Packaging and Specialty Plastics, Asia Pacific, DOW, presented some application cases of innovative flexible plastic packaging from the company. For example, the full-PE recyclable shower gel refill bag was developed by Dow and LION Corporation using Dow's INNATE TF BOPE.

Through the selection, combination and structural design of the resin, the packaging solution improves the elasticity and toughness in the production process, so that it has high heat sealing and thermoforming performance.

Parallel Sub-Forum: Green Design and Cross-Value Chain Collaboration

Raymond Chang, Sales and Marketing Manager at Global Green Material Co., Ltd.

Discussing the topic “Cross-value Chain Collaboration from PCR Pellets to Ocean Waste Recycled Pellets”, Raymond Chang, Sales and Marketing Manager at Global Green Material Co., Ltd., stated that PCR and PP recycled plastic pellets can reduce carbon emissions by up to 65% when compared to virgin PP, based on the company’s assessment results. Its marine plastic recycling solutions include classification of foam plastic containers, traditional electro-melting recycling and granulation, solvent volume reduction recycling and granulation, and so on.

Regarding laser direct structuring (LDS), Star Advanced Materials (Shandong) Co., Ltd., analyzed the some of the major trends of laser direct structuring engineering plastics used in mechatronic components. First, miniaturization, which is reflected in the use of bare chips and the reduction of component sizes. Also, increasing the diversity of functions, which is reflected in the semiconductors with integrated functions and special application. Other trends like lowering manufacturing costs and carbon emissions were also discussed.

Parallel Sub-Forum: Energy Efficient and Low-carbon Supply Chain

Monica Mo, the Founder and the Chief Exective Officer of Guangdong Databeyond Technology Co., Ltd.

According to Monica Mo, the Founder and the Chief Exective Officer of Guangdong Databeyond Technology Co., Ltd., the company has successfully established a lights-out factory in the recycled PET industry together with its partner in China. The factory operates 24 hours a day with intelligent sorting on the whole line which means it requires no manual labor in the sorting stage. The defective rate of finished products is less than 5ppm, and the per capita production capacity is as high as 10 tons.

Jun Tang, Technical Support Engineer at Wittmann Battenfeld (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

In his sharing, Jun Tang, Technical Support Engineer at Wittmann Battenfeld (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., pointed out making good use of shredding to realize effective recycling is becoming more and more important in the plastic molding market. The company has developed a series of equipment such as shredders, conveying equipment, and mixing equipment to accelerate plastic recycling. It also provides injection molding machines, manipulators and automation, mold temperature controllers, dehumidification dryers and other equipment.

Parallel Sub-Forum: High-value utilization of recyclable and recycled materials

Markus Huber-Lindinger, Managing Director at EREMA Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen Ges. m.b.H.

Markus Huber-Lindinger, Managing Director at EREMA Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen Ges. m.b.H., highlighted the company’s rPET and rHDPE food contact recycling solutions. EREMA has launched three different bottle-to-bottle processes, from flakes to pellets, flakes to preforms, combined reactor/extruder, making the recycling process more streamlined and efficient. He also introduced a novel tray-to-tray technology. In addition to rPET bottle-to-bottle recycling, 100% food-grade bottle-to-bottle recycling also available for HDPE.

Shao-Jie Wang, Product manager of Wanhua Chemical Performance Materials Business Unit, Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd.

Shao-Jie Wang, Product manager of Wanhua Chemical Performance Materials Business Unit, Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd., put his emphasis on the company’s low-carbon recycled materials, degradable materials, and bio-based materials. The manufacture of these materials is under the upstream and downstream integrated production process, innovative PCR cycle mode, source traceability, supplier control and raw material access inspection, research on key characteristics of material application, LCA, and carbon footprint calculation.

Innovative exhibit examples

There were also a lots of innovative low-carbon packaging solutions showcased concurrently, including:

Lightweight, low-carbon packaging of Nestlé(China) Co., Ltd.

Water and beverage bottles made from 100% rPET of Vitasoy International Holdings Limited

BOPE/PE mono-material packaging for liquid of  Guangzhou Liby Group Co., Ltd

Concurrent solutions and products showcase

In addition, more than 50 exhibitors showcased their innovative products and solutions concurrently, including the following.

Shanghai Re-mall Environmental Protection New Material Co., Ltd.

SABIC

Dow

Global Green Material Co., Ltd.

Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd.

Star Advanced Materials(Shandong) Co., Ltd

Guangdong DataBeyond Technology Co., Ltd.

EREMA Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen Ges.m.b.H.

Starlinger Recycling Technology

Wacker Chemicals (China) Co., Ltd.

LyondellBasell Polyolefin (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

Wittmann Battenfeld (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

MATERI’ACT

SHANGHAI AUSELL MATERIAL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD

Salute to the following Sponsors