Compostable plastics industry has a promising future

Plastic products have brought great convenience to people's lives, but after a large number of plastic products are used and discarded, environmental problems caused by improper disposal have become a hot spot of global concern. At present, there are 120 million tons of secondary plastic products in the world every year, only 10% is recycled, the other 12% is incinerated, and more than 70% is discarded into the soil, air and ocean.

Degradable plastics refer to a class of plastics whose products can meet the requirements of use with various properties, remain unchanged during the storage period, and can be degraded into environmentally sound substances under natural environmental conditions after use. Therefore, also known as environmentally degradable plastic, it is considered to be one of the effective ways to solve the problem of plastic pollution, and it has attracted attention in recent years.

my country is a major consumer of plastics in the world, and plastic consumption accounts for 15% of the world’s total. In 2019, the size of my country’s plastic packaging market was 54.1 billion U.S. dollars, and it is estimated that by 2025, my country’s plastic packaging market will reach 69.8 billion. It is replaced by biodegradable plastics. Calculated at a rate of 30%, it is estimated that my country's biodegradable plastics market will be about 20.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2025. On the whole, my country's biodegradable plastics market has a bright future and the industry can develop. But for now, my country's global consumption of biodegradable plastics accounts for only 4.6%, and the industry is still in the introduction period.

Biodegradable plastics have the same properties as traditional plastics in terms of stretch, impact and elasticity. However, due to the high price of materials and complex production processes, the price of biodegradable plastics is generally more than twice the price of traditional plastics. This hinders the promotion of degradable plastics to a certain extent. Although there is a ban on plastics, the market penetration rate of degradable plastics is still low. At present, the annual production capacity of most Chinese enterprises is below 50,000 tons. However, the transformation of traditional product companies and waste classification have played a role in promoting the development of biodegradable plastics.

Many domestic traditional products companies are transforming to fully biodegradable plastics. The fully biodegradable mulch film has been commercialized in some areas. The domestic vigorous promotion of waste classification also provides a huge market space for fully biodegradable plastics. Analysis of the status quo of the degradable plastics industry, in 2012, the global demand for biodegradable plastics was 269,000 tons, and in 2020, the global demand for biodegradable plastics was 523,000 tons, with a compound annual growth rate of 5%.

The proposal of garbage classification is accompanied by the question of what kind of garbage the garbage bag belongs to, and the degradable plastic bag can avoid this problem and provide great convenience for the kitchen waste. Analysis of the current situation of the degradable plastics industry shows that only in the four major cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, garbage classification will generate a potential market demand of 100,000 to 300,000 tons for fully biodegradable bags.

Generally speaking, my country's biodegradable plastics are in a state of rapid development, and the market demand is strong. In the long run, how to reduce costs and increase profits from the source will become one of the research focuses. At the same time increase production capacity, gradually penetrate the downstream market, and eventually form a large-scale market, or it will become the future development direction of degradable materials.