How ‘dirty business’ is helping companies clean up on profits
A rising number of outfits across the country are working to transform waste into new materials. Luan Xiang reports for Xinhua Features.
As the FIFA World Cup heads toward the quarterfinal stage, Russia has been the central focus for many Chinese soccer fans. Despite not competing this time around, China has contributed to the global sporting extravaganza via green, environmentally friendly technology.
One of the key factors making this World Cup special is its commitment to being ecofriendly, as indicated in the Sustainability Strategy promoted by FIFA and the Russian Local Organizing Committee which aims to make it a “greener and more sustainable” event.
“Each of the 12 eco-friendly stadiums has a system to manage and recycle waste, which is expected to help reduce the negative environmental impact,” said Alexey Sorokin, CEO of the Russia 2018 Local Organizing Committee, in a media release.
In addition to regular recycling bins, brightly colored machines spotted at the event have attracted a lot of attention. The hi-tech novelties collect plastic bottles which are eventually turned into chic T-shirts and tote bags. And they are made in China.
Chinese green technology has been welcomed by communities in Russia and soccer fans from across the world.
“Russian volunteers have been showing spectators at the stadiums how to properly recycle their plastic bottles,” said Liu Xuesong, executive vice-president of Incom Recycle, creator and operator of the plastic recycling system.
After finishing a bottled drink, spectators can easily locate a recycling machine, insert the empty container and receive a reward.
Eight bottles can make a cool-looking T-shirt, while 14 are needed to make a stylish tote bag.
In Beijing alone, 5,000 Incom boxes like the ones seen at the World Cup are functioning, interconnected and monitored via the company’s network.
The company’s statistics show that more than 2 million people are active users of these smart recycling devices, and more than 54 million bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate have been recycled since 2012.
That is equivalent to more than 8,100 metric tons of petroleum saved, 55,350 trees planted or a 4,050-ton reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
Turning waste into cash
Founded in 2003, Incom Recycle operates in about 21 countries and regions, providing integral solutions for the recycling and reuse of industrial and household waste. The company is representative of China’s growing recycling sector.
Another company making waves is BGG Recycle, an innovative business-to-business platform for recyclable resources. BGG, which generated revenue of 100 million yuan ($15 million) in its first year, has proved that the “dirty business” of waste management can be profitable.
Founder Anna Gui, who used to work on Wall Street, started the company to tackle China’s packaging waste problem, which has been exacerbated by the rapid surge of ecommerce.
The company’s app connects office buildings and companies with collectors, and after being sorted, the waste is sold to factories as raw materials.
“Our vision is to put limited resources into an infinite circle of sustainability through innovation,” Gui said.
Extended reach
The sector has always been profitable in China, even though the “garbage collectors” are often deprecated and their contribution to environmental protection is underestimated.
By cutting out middlemen and improving collection efficiency via the latest information technology, BGG has helped raise the recycling rate by 10 to 20 percent in nine Chinese cities where it provides services, while collectors working with the platform have seen their incomes almost double, Gui said.
“I’m optimistic about our business reaching more than 50 cities within three years. We will be providing services to more than 50,000 small businesses and collaborating with more than 100,000 collectors,” she added.
BGG expects to make 1 billion yuan this year, as more of its programs are implemented nationwide.
In addition to domestic players, TerraCycle, a waste management company from Trenton, New Jersey, which won the UN Monument Award, is helping to tackle China’s plastic pollution problem.
In 2016, the company arrived in China with a program sponsored by home products manufacturer Colgate to recycle used toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes. Since then, it has collected 63,000 pieces of oral care waste.
The company recently launched a contest among primary schools in Shanghai to encourage children to recycle oral care waste and collect votes on drawings themed “Green Future”. The winning school will receive a 3D printer.
“A green future will not happen without a clean and healthy environment — that’s the educational message we want to send out,” said Tom Szaky, TerraCycle’s founder and CEO.
The company started in 2001 when Szaky, then a Princeton freshman, and a friend created an organic fertilizer from the excrement of worms fed on waste. To date, more than 80 million people in 21 countries have helped to collect and recycle enough waste to raise more than $21 million for charities around the world.
Last year, TerraCycle created recyclable shampoo bottles for Procter & Gamble’s Head & Shoulders brand, with 25 percent of the materials coming from plastic waste collected from beaches, rivers and other waterways.
The project won the United Nations’ Momentum for Change Lighthouse Activities Award in October.
Chances and challenges
TerraCycle tries to eliminate waste in three ways: by recycling everything, including cigarette butts and candy wrappers; by making products such as plastic beach buckets from waste; and by closing the recycling loop.
TerraCycle’s coming to China “is a great opportunity”, Szaky told Xinhua.
“The waste issue caused by consumerism has actually been raising social awareness of the problem, which means people are willing to face the issue and work to solve it,” he said.
“The government has been very supportive of green and sustainable business.”
Since 2012, China has promoted industries involved in energy conservation and environmental protection, or ECEP, as one of the seven emerging strategic pillars of the economy.
Meanwhile, the 13th FiveYear Plan (2016-20) set a target for the added value of ECEP industries to account for 3 percent of GDP by 2020.
Fiscal and tax support has been granted to technological researchers and businesses that provide solutions, products and services for green development.
Encouraged by these preferential policies and strong demand, China’s recycling sector has seen a rising number of players.
“Waste management is crucial for public well-being and environmental protection, yet many startups, despite noble and ingenious ideas, fail because it’s difficult for small businesses to maintain a profit margin, especially at the beginning,” said Mao Da of Beijing Normal University, an environmental history scholar and founder of the China Zero Waste Alliance, a nongovernmental think tank.
TerraCycle maintained a 1 percent profit margin for more than a decade, and last year, the company’s sales passed $20 million.
“We are changing people’s habits. Getting people to care about recycling is our biggest challenge,” Szaky said. “One of the most important things we do is educate people. We raise awareness of the issue and let people know that the environment is worth the cost.”
The company also provides incentives. For example, it awards consumers points based on how much material they recycle, and the points can be converted into cash donations to charities.
However, changing people’s habits through education may take too long to address the critical pollution issues, according to Liu of Incom Recycle. She urged authorities to use legal procedures to determine and outline producers’ responsibilities in the recycling process.
“To our knowledge, more than 50 countries and regions around the world have implemented laws and regulations to establish recycling obligations for producers,” she said.
Incentives
In countries such as Germany, Australia and Lithuania, consumers pay a deposit for products that employ recyclable single-use packaging material, and the deposit is only returned when the packaging is recycled.
“This has proved to be the most effective way of raising the recycling rate to an average of 95 percent,” said Liu, whose company has partnered with Coca-Cola to recycle the company’s packaging waste in China.
This year, the European Union announced a strategy to make all plastic packaging in the EU recyclable by 2030.
Multinational corporations are often criticized for producing huge amounts of packaging waste, but Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Colgate have announced commitments to introduce 100 percent recyclable packaging by 2030.
“Producers should be responsible, and play a larger role in recycling their packaging waste,” Liu said. “Once the recycling rate rises, we will have the technology and capacity to turn waste into valuable resources, and plastic pollution will stop growing.”
According to Gui of BGG Recycle, the great challenge is to address the bias against recycling and attract more talent to the sector.
“Many talented people don’t consider recycling as a career, and experienced collectors are used to working on their own. It will take time for this longestablished sector to recognize modern values,” she said.
“The future of this industry lies in the intelligent transformation of old practices.
“An intelligent recycling and reuse system is inevitable. The entire process, from the production of waste, to circulation and waste processing companies, should be monitored, supervised and deployed properly.”