The Plastics Processing Industry Enters A New Era Of High-quality Development
Plastic raincoats, plastic household items, plastic doors and windows, high-barrier plastic films and other packaging materials, plastic parts for transportation such as cars and airplanes, protective clothing, goggles, nucleic acid testing supplies and other medical plastics... It can be said that in people's daily life, In the field of clothing, food, housing and transportation, the demand for plastic products is everywhere. Because plastic products have some excellent properties that traditional materials do not have, plastics are used more and more widely in various fields of the national economy, and their scope is also growing. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in 2021, my country's plastics processing industry summary statistics enterprises completed a cumulative output of 80.0398 million tons, an increase of 46.2% over 2011; enterprises above designated size achieved profits of 129.583 billion yuan, accounting for 9.19% of the total profits of the national light industry industry. Accounting for 1.49% of the total profits of enterprises above designated size nationwide; the industry's plastic product exports were US$98.99 billion, an increase of 29.1%. my country's status as the world's largest plastic producer, consumer, and exporter has been further consolidated, making important contributions to better serving people's lives.
Wang Zhanjie, president of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association, told reporters that the past ten years have been the intersection of my country's building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, achieving its first centenary goal, and approaching two important milestones. Move towards the second centenary goal. This was a decade of booming development for the processing industry. In the new stage of development, the plastics processing industry continues to implement the new development concept in depth, adheres to the unwavering drive of innovation, deepens supply-side structural reform, promotes a rational industrial structure, participates in serving the domestic and international dual cycles, strives to catch up with the international advanced level, and accelerates the transformation from large-scale to large-scale. We will make steady progress on the path of high-quality development with the pace of transformation.
The industrial structure is more optimized and the degree of concentration is higher>
Near the Yuyao North High-speed Railway Station in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, there is China Plastic City, which spans several blocks. The streets are lined with plastic-related shops. "Plastics are not produced here, but all the plastics you need can be found here," said Peng Bing, a businessman who specializes in plastic pipes.
"From a street to a city, China Plastic City has at least two 'bests' - China's largest plastic raw material distribution center and Zhejiang's largest production materials market." said the relevant person in charge of Plastic City. The Plastic City market trades more than 6,000 varieties, accounting for about 10% of the national plastic raw material consumption market. It is the largest and most comprehensive plastic electronic trading center among similar plastic trading markets in the world. In the four years since its opening, the cumulative transaction volume of the online trading market has exceeded 10 million tons, and the transaction volume has exceeded 120 billion yuan.
The rise of China Plastics City benefits from the development of Ningbo's plastics industry. Yu Weixing, secretary-general of the Ningbo Plastics Industry Association, told reporters that Ningbo's plastics industry is an important part of the new materials industry. Due to Ningbo's vigorous development in recent decades, the plastics industry has continued to expand from plastic raw materials, modification, processing, plastic machinery, molds and other fields. , auxiliaries and other industrial clusters have formed a relatively complete industrial chain. In 2010, Ningbo won the honorary title of "China's Capital of Engineering Plastics". Last year, there were 986 designated enterprises in Ningbo's plastics industry, with an annual output value exceeding 20 million. The number of plastic companies in Ningbo accounts for a large proportion of the total number of plastic companies in the country. Last year, the total output value of Ningbo's plastics industry processing industry was about 120 billion yuan, and the profit was about 60 billion yuan.
"Ningbo is a typical industrial cluster in the industry. In accordance with the overall requirements for characteristic areas and industrial cluster management formulated by China Light Industry Federation and China Plastics Processing Industry Association, China Light Industry Federation, China Plastics Association and local governments jointly built industrial clusters in 18 and 10 An increase of 8 during the year. "In Wang Zhanjie's view, the plastics industry cluster has the characteristics of high industrial agglomeration and distinctive regional characteristics. Small and medium-sized enterprises are its main body, so it can also be called a small and medium-sized enterprise industrial cluster. "By focusing on industries, highlighting advantages and characteristics, gathering resource elements, building efficient collaboration networks, and improving governance services, we will enhance the professional, distinctive, and clustered development level of small and medium-sized enterprise industrial clusters and promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. And form a strong industrial cluster with medium-sized enterprises Core competitiveness to promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the industry Wang Zhanjie said, “The China Plastics Association will continue to actively play a bridge role, fulfill the association’s mission and responsibilities, and gather strength. Leverage the industry’s expertise, information, talents and other advantages to do a good job for the government and members. services, drive local economic growth and drive the healthy development of the national plastics industry. "
Wang Zhanjie lamented that in the past ten years, the overall quality level of my country's plastic products has been greatly improved, and brand building has been further strengthened. On the one hand, the industry vigorously implements the "three-product" strategy, accelerates product transformation and upgrading, eliminates backward production capacity and other measures, and adheres to the innovative development direction of "functionalization, lightweight, precision, ecologicalization, and ecologicalization". "Smart" makes plastic products more popular. The technical content and quality have been greatly improved, and the supply capacity to the high-end market has also been continuously enhanced; on the other hand, enterprises have paid more attention to brand building and actively carried out standardization work. While strengthening the formulation and revision of national standards and industry standards, we also actively promote the construction of a group bidding system and the development of high-value technology in the service industry.
Technological innovation promotes the transformation of China’s manufacturing>
Created in China, Intelligent Made in China>
"The yield and quality of cotton can be guaranteed, and the residual film after the autumn harvest is easy to clean and will not pollute the land. In addition, the government also provides subsidies." Wu Tianxi, a cotton farmer who lives in Lingbi County, Suzhou City, Anhui Province, told reporters that in the past two years, he With the help of the staff of the agricultural science station, all the cotton in the field was covered. High-strength mechanically recyclable mulch film is used. After recycling, the surface is clean and free of any mulch debris. The seed cotton after mechanical picking also does not contain mulch film fragments, which improves the quality of the cotton. . Liu Chuan, the person in charge of the agricultural science station here, said that these recycled mulch films can be reused and are of high value. Through technological integration and innovation, the place has formed a green closed-loop industrial chain of mulch film manufacturing, use, recycling, and reuse.
High-strength mechanically recyclable mulch film technology based on extensional rheology plastic extrusion technology has brought convenience to the production and life of the masses. Such technological innovations are not uncommon in the plastics processing industry. Wang Zhanjie told reporters that the plastics processing industry now attaches great importance to innovation. Original and ingenious technologies are constantly emerging, and the pace of new materials, new processes, new product research and development and industrial applications is accelerating, realizing the transformation of the plastics processing industry from Made in China to Created in China. change. During the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, the technological innovation of my country's plastics processing industry began to transform from "catch-up" to "parallel". During the 13th Five-Year Plan period alone, industry enterprises won 3 National Science and Technology Progress Awards and 45 China Patent Excellence Awards. The China Light Industry Federation has won 18 first prizes for scientific and technological inventions and scientific and technological progress, and more than 100 provincial and ministerial level science and technology awards.
"Green manufacturing technologies such as melt differential electrospinning nanofibers, water-based solvent-free synthetic leather, and polymer pipe rotary extrusion are at the international leading level; waste plastic recycling is efficiently processed and reused, and high-value, large-scale thick-walled complex structure plastic parts are molded, etc. Innovative technology has entered the ranks of the world's advanced level; industrialization of thermoplastic polyurethane micro-generation foam beads for high-resilience shoe materials, biaxially stretched polyvinyl chloride The industrialization of polyethylene (PVC-O) pipes, refractive index matching (IM) cured films for touch screens, and chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC with a thickness of more than 50mm) sheets are of great significance to standardize international advanced levels and fill domestic gaps... …" Talking about the industry's outstanding scientific and technological achievements, Wang Zhanjie was familiar with them. He said that the industry's technological innovation achievements are far more than these. In recent years, technological innovation has also allowed the industry to gradually move towards China's intelligent manufacturing.
Walking into China Lesso's headquarters industrial park in Shunde, Guangdong, there are not many workers in the huge workshop. In a traditional workshop, you can't hear the "ensemble" of screws, wrenches and gears clanking in the hands of workers. You can only see groups of groups. In the production cell, intelligent robots execute production orders. The robotic arm swings quickly to grab, clamp, and place in an orderly manner. Several workers operate the intelligent operation panel in front of the machine. Under the high-speed operation of the automated production unit, pieces of electrothermal melt pipe fitting products are "released" one after another.
The relevant person in charge of China Lesso told reporters that on the one hand, intelligent production better ensures the stability of the quality of electrothermal melt pipe fittings and makes its performance safer and more reliable; on the other hand, intelligent production not only improves work efficiency and management level , it also reduces the labor intensity of operating employees and saves production costs. At the same time, intelligent manufacturing can replace physically demanding operations, optimize production processes, and significantly reduce the energy consumption of electrothermal melt pipe fittings. Since the adoption of intelligent systems in 2018, the comprehensive qualification rate of Lesso's products has increased from 70% to more than 97%, and its production capacity has also increased to more than 1.5 times. Today, the production equipment and processing technology of Lesso's electric hot melt pipe fittings have reached the leading level in the industry, and the production scale has exceeded 50% of the overall scale of similar products in the industry.
Wang Zhanjie said that technical transformation of production processes and equipment has increased product varieties and functions, and improved production processes and the environment. The application of manipulators, robots and IoT smart technologies has improved production efficiency and product quality, reduced production energy consumption and labor intensity, promoted industrial upgrading, and improved the overall efficiency of the industry.
Green and sustainable development is more effective>
Nowadays, when ordering takeout milk tea, PLA biodegradable straws, degradable milk tea cups, and degradable plastic bags have become standard. In the past two years, the waste plastic pollution control work has been carried out, and degradable plastic products have become available in thousands of households. It has won the trust and love of many consumers. Recently, my country's international standard for biodegradable materials and products ISO 5424:2022 "Plastics - Industrial Compostable Plastic Straws" was also officially released. Weng Yunxuan, secretary-general of the Degradable Plastics Professional Committee of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association and dean of the School of Chemistry and Materials Engineering of Beijing Technology and Business University, said: "In the development process of biodegradable materials, standards are a key factor and a very important means. Currently, our country has taken the lead. Four projects have been released, and two more are being drafted. It should be said that we have a say in the development of the biodegradation industry."
Wang Zhanjie said that in the past two years, the industry has steadily promoted green and sustainable development, actively responded to waste plastic pollution, promoted recyclable, easily recyclable, and degradable products and technologies, promoted degradable plastics to replace some disposable plastics, and accelerated the reduction of plastics. 3. Comprehensive utilization of resources, strengthening plastic recycling and high-value utilization.
The plastics industry also plays an important role in my country's energy conservation and emission reduction efforts. It is understood that the proportion of plastic products used to replace steel, wood, and concrete in automobiles, buildings, and daily necessities has increased year by year, greatly reducing the carbon emissions produced by manufacturing steel and the carbon neutral losses caused by manufacturing steel. Cutting wood. In addition, recycling waste plastics through physical methods of plastic processing has the lowest carbon emissions and the smallest impact on the environment among all processing methods.
Wang Zhanjie told reporters that my country's plastic processing companies process about 18 million tons of waste plastics every year, of which the recycling rate of expanded polystyrene (EPS) reaches more than 92% and the recycling rate of polyester (PET) bottles reaches more than 94%. Before the domestic ban on the import of waste plastics in 2018, more than 8 million tons of foreign waste plastics were processed every year, making great contributions to the country and the world's plastic recycling. Calculated based on the recycling of 10 million tons of waste plastics, 10 million tons of plastic raw materials can be used less, which is equivalent to reducing 23 million tons of crude oil CNC milling, saving 70% of energy consumption, and reducing 20 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. "It is foreseeable that during the '14th Five-Year Plan' period, as the level of plastic processing technology continues to improve, the industry's efforts to recycle plastic waste will continue to increase, and its contribution to my country's carbon neutrality and carbon peak will also increase. Big." Wang Zhanjie said.
Text|Xie Lei, our intern reporter>
