Home appliance plastic recycling has a long way to go

China has become a major producer and consumer of household appliances. According to a survey by the National Bureau of Statistics, the current social ownership of television sets in China is about 350 million, washing machines are about 170 million, refrigerators are about 130 million, and computers and air conditioners are also quite large. Most of these appliances entered ordinary households in the mid to late 1980s, and in the coming years, China will usher in a peak of home appliance upgrading.

Calculated based on a lifespan of 10-15 years, the average number of televisions that need to be scrapped in China now exceeds 5 million per year, with approximately 5 million washing machines and 4 million refrigerators. Over 15 million discarded household appliances will be phased out each year. In addition, in recent years, electronic and communication equipment, such as computers, mobile phones, VCDs, DVDs, and records, have been updated and replaced at an accelerated pace, resulting in a sharp increase in the number of scrapped items and posing serious environmental problems.

Due to the lack of a standardized system for the recycling and utilization of waste household appliances in China, the phenomenon of overdue service and arbitrary disposal of household appliances is common, resulting in increasingly prominent safety hazards, energy waste, and environmental pollution issues. The recycling of automotive plastics urgently requires attention to using plastics to manufacture automotive components, which can reduce vehicle quality and improve component performance. However, insufficient recycling can bring environmental problems. According to predictions, China's total demand for automobiles will surpass Germany in 2005, becoming the third largest consumer country in the world.

At present, the technology of recycling, recycling, and utilization of automotive waste plastics has become a hot topic abroad and is gradually forming an emerging industry. However, in China, the recycling rate of automotive waste plastics is not yet high and has not received sufficient attention.

At present, the consumption of automotive plastics in China has been increasing year by year, including polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polyethylene, polyurethane, ABS, polyamide, polyformaldehyde, etc., with an annual consumption of 400000 tons.

With the increasing number of scrapped cars year by year, it is expected that the total consumption of automotive plastics in China will reach around 800000 tons by 2010. Therefore, the task of recycling and reusing waste automotive plastic components will become increasingly challenging.