At Chinaplas 2019 International Rubber and plastic exhibition, there is an industry news that is still fresh in people's memory, that is, a local enterprise in Guangxi spent more than 40 million euros to buy the global "top equipped" PET recycling production line at one go. It is said that this is one of the few PET recycling production lines in the recycling industry in China and even in the world, which adopts European advanced technology and process to produce pet. It covers the closed-loop bottle to bottle recycling production line of recycling, cleaning, sorting, granulation and regeneration, sheet production, and blister thermoforming.
This company is a waste plastic recycling enterprise. Its founder started from the real estate and hotel business, which makes people feel like a real estate developer buying. However, after more than a year, how is this enterprise developing? Is it really just 'a lot of money'?
Recently, Guojiawan, chairman of Guangxi Wuzhou Guolong renewable resources development Co., Ltd., received an exclusive interview from adsalecprj.com to share how he planned layout and created a full closed-loop production mode.
11 PET production lines and 4 HDPE production lines, realizing the business model of the whole industry chain
Yashi Rubber & plastic network: in 2019, Guolong purchased a large number of recycling equipment at Chinaplas International Rubber & plastic exhibition. How is the current project progress?
Guojiawan: in May, 2019, Guolong Guangxi Guolong renewable resources group held a signing and procurement ceremony with five companies, including Italian sorema, Austrian erema, Austrian SML, German kiefel and German tomra. Affected by the epidemic this year, the equipment was not installed until September 2020 and officially put into operation in November. At present, the PET production line has been fully opened, including two cleaning lines, one granulation line, two sheet lines and six thermoforming lines.
Guojiawan, chairman of Guangxi Wuzhou Guolong renewable resources development Co., Ltd
The PET recycling production line has realized the closed loop of the whole industrial chain from recycling, cleaning, bottle chip, granulation, sheet and thermoforming. The cleaning line has an annual capacity of 80000 tons, the sheet line has an annual capacity of 32000 tons, the thermoforming box has an annual capacity of 2billion, the cup has an annual capacity of 600million, the granulation line has an annual capacity of 20000 tons, and the annual output value exceeds 1billion yuan.
In addition, our two HDPE cleaning lines and two HDPE granulation lines have also realized the closed-loop development mode of recycling, cleaning, bottle chips and regenerative granulation. The annual treatment of waste HDPE bottles is 70000 tons, and the annual output of recycled PE particles is 50000 tons. They will be fully put into operation at the end of this year.
Guangxi Wuzhou Guolong renewable resources development Co., Ltd
Yashi Rubber & plastic net: can the PET recycling line meet the market demand? Where are the main sales markets? What is the market situation?
Guojiawan: at present, our sales are mainly export-oriented, concentrated in Europe, America, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia. Since it was put into production in November, our orders have been increasing every day. Our products include sheets, bottles, granules, various packaging boxes and beverage cups. While forming a closed loop of the whole industrial chain, we can also realize the independent sale of products in each link, which is very competitive in the market!
Most of our sheets are used for food and electronic packaging. Thermoformed packaging products are sold in supermarkets at home and abroad. The sales of granules are mainly for large foreign-funded and export enterprises. Since European and American countries began to force the use of recycled plastic packaging in 2021, this is great good news for our enterprises.
Product exhibition area of Guangxi Wuzhou Guolong renewable resources development Co., Ltd
How to guarantee the quality? Standardization and certification
Yashi Rubber & plastic network: what do you think is the gap between domestic and foreign recycled material technologies?
Guojiawan: there is still a certain gap between China and foreign countries in terms of sorting, recycling, cleaning and regenerative granulation. For example, ten years ago, the recycling of food grade waste plastics started in Europe, while China is still in its infancy. China's plastic recycling still focuses on industrial utilization.
To ensure the quality of recycled products, Europe and the United States pay more attention to the standardization of processing technology. There is a set of standards for each link of PET recycling, cleaning, bottle chip, granulation, sheet material and thermoforming to control the quality of each process. These standards determine the stability of process technology and product quality of the production line. Take the cleaning of bottle tablets as an example. This is a complex process. There are dozens of indicators in Europe to measure the quality of cleaning bottle tablets.
In addition to process standardization, the process itself should also pass relevant certification. For example, the granulation line and sheet line have been certified by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
As for whether the performance of recycled materials concerned by the industry has reached the food level standard, our products have reached or even higher than the national standard for new materials in the domestic food standard testing indicators.
At the same time, our recycling system has obtained GRS certification; The sheet products have obtained EU CE certification, SGS certification and US SCS certification; Granular products have also obtained FDA certification.
Kiefel hot forming production line introduced by Guolong
Yashi Rubber & plastic network: how is the equipment automation progressing? How to realize the closed loop of the whole industrial chain?
Guojiawan: as for the production efficiency, take the cleaning production line as an example. We only need 8 workers per shift, with a production capacity of 6 tons per hour, and 4 workers for sheet materials. Our average efficiency is more than 5 times higher than that of domestic production lines. Due to the high degree of equipment automation, our production efficiency is greatly improved and the cost of human resources is reduced.
We have been striving to achieve the ecosystem development mode of industrial integration. Whether it is recycled PET or HDPE, we have realized the closed-loop mode of recycling, cleaning, bottle tablets and granulating products. We have realized on-line recycling of leftover materials generated in granulation, sheet and thermoforming production, and realized internal circulation in the production process!
Waste plastics are stacked orderly in Guolong production workshop
Yashi Rubber & plastic network: How did you enter the recycled material industry?
Guojiawan: I started from the real estate and hotel industries and started in the field of plastic recycling eight years ago. In recent years, I have visited Europe for many times to investigate the technology and market, and conducted in-depth research on European and American industrial technology and the characteristics of Chinese packaging materials. Finally, in combination with the actual situation of the domestic recycling industry, I integrated the world's leading process technology and according to the characteristics of raw materials in the domestic recycling market, established a research and development team, cooperated with the school of environment of Tsinghua University, and established a project development team in 2012, which was composed of an expert group composed of the school of environment. In cooperation with Guangzhou Customs (iqtc) National Key Laboratory for testing of food contact materials, it has carried out FCM (food contact) research and development, and carried out various tests and technology research and development for food grade utilization of recycled plastics. Although we only started production this year, we have been working in this industry for 8 years, which can be described as a solid foundation.
TOMRA sorting line introduced by Guolong
Yashi Rubber & plastic net: what are your plans for future development? How to expand the domestic market?
Guojiawan: environmental protection, resource regeneration and waste classification policies are very beneficial to our development! This is the most important change in the development of the industry! I have always believed that recycling is the key to plastic recycling. Only by doing a good job in recycling sources can the industry produce normally and achieve stability. This is also our advantage. We not only have our own recycling network, but also have built our own waste recycling and classification center, and are communicating with the Guangxi government to strive to participate in waste classification and management at the policy level.
The "plastic restriction / prohibition order" issued by China is also very beneficial to the recycling industry of waste plastic products. The opinions on further strengthening plastic pollution control issued in january2020 can be interpreted as four aspects: first, prohibit and restrict the production, sales and use of disposable plastic products; Second, encourage recycling; Third, promote green packaging products; Fourth, look for degradable alternative products. These opinions are in line with China's current national conditions and the development concept of Guolong recycled plastics. This also proves that our investment vision is correct.
SML production line introduced by Guolong
In terms of market and technology, the United States and most European countries advocate recycling. Due to the wide use and practicality of plastics, it is difficult to completely ban them. Recycling may be a better way out. The real pollution is not only one-off plastic pollution seen by our naked eyes. China produces more than 90 million tons of plastic every year, of which PET packaging is less than 10 million tons, and more is waste plastic pollution from industry, chemical industry and various uses. Only through recycling, resource regeneration can better solve the problems of environmental pollution and sustainable development. It is believed that under the influence of both policy and economy, the road of domestic plastic circular economy will lead to a huge development era!
Yashi Rubber & plastic net: apart from pet and HDPE recycling, are other categories expanded?
Guojiawan: at present, we are introducing PP and ABS cleaning lines, granulation lines, sheet lines and thermoforming lines to create a closed loop of the whole industrial chain. The investment in PP production line is about 300million yuan, and the investment in ABS is 400million yuan. The two projects are expected to be put into operation in 2021.
Guolong technicians are conducting production operation debugging
Our development plan is to achieve a PET recycling production line capacity of 100000 tons, a PP recycling production line of 50000 tons, an HDPE recycling production line of 100000 tons, and an ABS recycling production line of 200000 tons by 2022. Our factory recycles over 500000 tons of waste plastic annually and produces over 400000 tons of recycled plastic annually. Reduce oil usage by over 1.5 million tons annually; Reduce carbon emissions by over 1.2 million tons.
After the overall production of the factory in Wuzhou is completed, we consider further going out and copying this model to the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Central China, North China and other places. I have a great passion for environmental protection, which is beneficial for future generations. Over the past eight years, I have established my own plastic recycling channel and built a closed-loop recycling factory, truly achieving a closed-loop development model for the entire industry chain!
In addition to my passion, I have also rationally analyzed the prospects of this industry from the perspective of an entrepreneur, and looked at the development prospects of this industry from the perspectives of the market and policies. Therefore, I have more "ambition" for this environmental protection cause, hoping to become a leading enterprise in recycled plastics in China and even globally through nationwide layout in the next few years!
