At the Resources Recycling Industrial Base in Fengcheng, Jiangxi province, scrap aluminum is melted down to make wheel hubs, discarded plastic is turned into versatile recycled plastic pellets, and e-waste is refined to extract rare and precious metals.

"Our company recycles over 100,000 metric tons of waste plastic and home appliances a year," said Qin Yufei, chairman of Jiangxi Green Recycling Co.

"The recycled plastic pellets are then used in packaging, home goods, and the automotive and electronics industries."

Production lines at the company were running smoothly late last month, with workers busy sorting items, dismantling refrigerator compressors and feeding the leftover shells into huge shredders.

The shreds were processed by robotic equipment that transformed them into new products used in home appliances and the automotive industry.

Green Recycling specializes in recycled and modified plastics.

"Over more than 10 years, we have developed a green circular economy industrial chain that includes e-waste dismantling, plastic recycling and modification, and the recovery of precious metals from waste circuit boards," Qin said.

The Fengcheng Resources Recycling Industrial Base was established in 2007.

Fengcheng is the largest distribution center for waste materials in the Jiangnan region — south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River — and the base aims to become the largest waste materials dismantling base in China.

In the 1990s, many Fengcheng residents rode tricycles from door to door, collecting scrap materials for sale.

Last year, the base produced over 600,000 tons of recycled copper, aluminum and plastic, with its output valued at 42 billion yuan ($5.78 billion).

The base has developed a complete circular economy, from recycling to dismantling, sorting, smelting and processing.

"Using environmentally friendly materials is now an international trend," said Zeng Guohui, the deputy head of the base. "It not only reduces pollution but also slows down the mining of raw materials.

"This green industry holds immense potential."

In 2016, the base was approved as a national industrial resource comprehensive utilization demonstration base. In 2020, it was recognized as a national green industry demonstration base.

The base has signed contracts with over 170 companies, including 126 large enterprises, with a total investment of about 80 billion yuan.

Jiangxi Maidehao New Materials Co, one of the other companies at the base, turns 3-millimeter copper wire into 4.5-micron copper foil through melting, foil production, surface treatment and cutting processes.

"We purchase copper wire from other recycling companies at the base, then process it into electronic copper foil for sale," said Sheng Chenfeng, its executive vice-president.

Over 30 percent of the raw materials are sourced within the base, and its products are mainly sold to manufacturers in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, or exported to South Korea, Sheng said.

Zeng said the base "will continue to promote the circular industrial chain, and advance the processing of recycled resources to the high end of the value chain, ensuring that finite resources are infinitely recycled".

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