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On May 21, 2021, China released three national standards for recycled plastics[1], including GB/T 40006.1-2021 Plastics-Recycled Plastics-Part 1: General Rules, GB/T 40006.2-2021 Plastics-Recycled Plastics-Part 2: Polyethylene (PE) Materials and GB/T 40006.3-2021 Plastics- Recycled Plastics-Part 3: Polypropylene (PP) Materials. They will take effect on December 1, 2021.
China is the largest plastic producer in the world. The Chinese government is stepping up to a complete ban nationalwide on single-use or non-degradable plastics while taking aim at domestic plastics recycling. However, the lack of uniform standards remained a challenge for the recycling industry for a long time.
To strengthen the recycling and management of plastic renewable resources, prevent and control the environmental hazards caused by plastic waste, regulate the production and trade of recycled plastics, and promote the high-quality development of the recycling industry, China started formulating a series of national standards for recycled plastics from 2019. In addition to the part 1 to part 3 indicated above, another five parts will be published soon after final approval, including:
•Plastics-Recycled Plastics-Part 5: Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) Materials;
•Plastics-Recycled Plastics-Part 6: Polystyrene (PS) and Impact-resistant Polystyrene (PS-I) Materials,
•Plastics-Recycled Plastics-Part 7: Polycarbonate (PC) Materials;
•Plastics-Recycled Plastics-Part 8: Polyamide (PA) Materials; and
•Plastics-Recycled Plastics-Part 9: Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Materials
The series of standards stipulate the terms and definitions, classification and naming, requirements, experimental methods and rules, traceability documents, marking, packaging, transportation and storage of recycled plastics, as well as the applicable and inapplicable raw materials, which serve as the most comprehensive and systematic normative documents for the recycling industry at present.
