Two pilot projects on recycling plastics from old cars and single-use packaging have been launched in China under the EU–China Circular Economy Action Project.
The projects are co-funded by the European Union and Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, and are being implemented by the German development agency GIZ, the European External Action Service (EEAS) announced on Thursday.
Bart van der Meer, Green Transition Counsellor at the EU Delegation to China, attended both launch events and said: “The circular economy is an important political priority for both the EU and China.”
One pilot, launched in Shanghai on 21 April, focuses on recycling plastics recovered from end-of-life vehicles — cars that have reached the point where they are dismantled and scrapped — which are “currently poorly recycled and rarely reused in new vehicles.”
It brings together end-of-life vehicle dismantler Yucheng, recycler Ausell and polymer producer LyondellBasell, and is open to all automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) — companies that make vehicles and parts.
Partners will work on recovering polypropylene (PP) plastics from scrapped vehicles and reintegrating them into new vehicle components, with work including dismantling methods, material classification, identification and quality-control planning for selected plastic parts.
Packaging recycling for food-grade use
A second pilot, launched in Jiaxing on 23 April, covers “closed-loop recycling” of r-PET and r-PP — recycled polyethylene terephthalate and recycled polypropylene — for “food-grade” use, meaning recycled material suitable for packaging that comes into contact with food.
The initiative is being developed with a collector and sorter in Jiaxing City and recycling partners in the EU and China, and will focus on standardising steps from collection and sorting through to food-grade recycling.
The EU–China Circular Economy Action Project runs from 2024 to 2026 and is linked to an EU–China memorandum of understanding on circular economy cooperation signed in 2018.
