Taking polycarbonate and other engineering plastics as the starting point, Covestro lays out the plastic recycling industry

At the 4th China International Import Expo, Covestro and Weixiang, a leading domestic environmental recycling service provider, signed a letter of intent for cooperation. Both parties agreed to promote the recycling and reuse of polymer in the field of e-waste. On the basis of cooperation between the two parties, we will develop a model of multi-party cooperation with upstream and downstream parties to jointly build a complete recycling industry chain.

At the signing ceremony, Sun Lu, Senior Vice President of Global Planning and Product Supply of Covestro's Engineering Plastics Division, said: “Waste electrical and electronic products are urgently needed in the reverse recycling system to establish a complete circular supply chain and business model. Covestro He Weixiang hopes to use the cooperation between the two parties as a starting point to cooperate with upstream and downstream parties to create a true closed loop of recycling for the electrical and electronic industry."

As the consumption trend of electrical and electronic products such as mobile phones and computers continues to rise, the global e-waste pollution problem cannot be ignored. According to the United Nations "Global E-waste Monitoring 2020", the total amount of e-waste generated globally in 2019 reached 53.6 million tons, an increase of 21% in five years, and the collection and recycling rate was only 17.4%. The report predicts that the total global e-waste will exceed 74.7 million tons in 2030, which makes e-waste the fastest-growing household waste in the world. As one of the major powers of consumer electronics, China is also facing challenges in how to deal with such waste.

In order to enhance the recycling value of e-waste, Covestro will use engineering plastics including polycarbonate as an entry point through strategic cooperation with Weixiang to form a circular economy model of plastic recycling, modification and reuse. According to this agreement, Weixiang will be responsible for collecting waste electrical and electronic products, dismantling, sorting, cleaning and repelling them. Covestro modified the recycled plastics provided by Weixiang to develop high-performance polycarbonate products and re-apply them in many fields such as electrical appliances and electronics.

Huang Wei, President of Weixiang China, said: "Waste electrical and electronic products contain approximately 30% of plastic. As a service provider of the manufacturer’s extended responsibility system, Weixiang has been exploring the realization of the reuse of partially recycled plastic materials. This time I am lucky. Covestro, the world’s leading polymer manufacturer, has reached a consensus on cooperation, which is expected to form a closed-loop development model for plastic recycling, modification, and reuse in the production of new products, improve the recycling rate of natural resources, and recycle from the recycling system. Compared with the full exploitation of primary resources, the use of resources can reduce carbon emissions and play a key role in the realization of "dual carbon"."

As a multifunctional engineering plastic, polycarbonate has a wide range of applications in the electrical and electronic industries and has a high recycling value. As the world's leading polycarbonate supplier, Covestro has always been adhering to the vision of "creating for endless recycling" and has been exploring sustainable solutions for the recycling of polycarbonate. In the future, Covestro looks forward to working with more ecosystem industry partners to continue to build a more comprehensive circular economy ecosystem, promote more innovative cooperation in the value chain, and help China's green and low-carbon development.