Key facts
- China aims for its resource-recycling industry to reach an output value of 8 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion) by 2030.
- This target signifies a 60% increase from the projected 2025 levels.
- The strategy is part of China's 15th Five-Year Plan for the circular economy.
- The initiative focuses on securing critical materials, reducing carbon emissions, and managing waste from clean-energy and EV sectors.
- The China Resources Recycling Group (CRRG) was established on October 18, 2024, to centralize recycling efforts.
- CRRG will oversee recycling of scrap steel, EV batteries, plastics, non-ferrous metals, and retired renewable energy infrastructure.
China is intensifying its efforts to bolster resource security and manage waste by significantly expanding its resource-recycling industry. Under a newly released national strategy, the country aims to increase the industry's output value to 8 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion) by 2030, a 60% rise from 2025 levels. This initiative is part of the 15th Five-Year Plan for the circular economy.
The strategy is driven by the need to secure critical materials, reduce carbon emissions, and handle the growing volume of waste generated by China's rapidly expanding clean-energy and electric-vehicle sectors.
As part of this push, the Chinese government established the China Resources Recycling Group (CRRG) on October 18, 2024. The CRRG is designed to act as a national coordinating body for recycling efforts in key areas such as scrap steel, EV batteries, plastics, non-ferrous metals, and retired renewable energy infrastructure.
Previous targets within China's circular economy ambitions include recycling 450 million metric tons of key renewable resources annually by 2025, processing 35 million tonnes of decommissioned wind and solar equipment each year by 2030, reaching 5 trillion yuan in annual output from the recycling industry by 2025, and doubling the number of recycled scrapped vehicles by 2027.