In 2025, China's total renewable resource recovery volume reached approximately 380 million tonnes. The recycling systems for waste household appliances, waste clothing, scrap steel, and other waste materials continued to improve: from 2024 to 2025, about 53 million units of waste household appliances and mobile phones were formally dismantled nationwide, with an average annual growth rate of about 12%; enterprises in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, used physical-chemical methods to turn old clothing into recycled fibers, and a recycled DMT new material project has been put into production; 11 enterprises in Anshan entered the national scrap steel processing industry access list, with a total approved production capacity of 7.85 million tonnes.

Key Points

  • In 2025, the national total renewable resource recovery volume was about 380 million tonnes, and links such as waste household appliance dismantling are accelerating standardization.
  • From 2024 to 2025, about 53 million units of waste household appliances and mobile phones were formally dismantled nationwide, with an average annual growth rate of about 12%.
  • Zhejiang Ailisi Dyeing and Finishing in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, partnered with Zhejiang Sci-Tech University to develop physical-chemical regeneration technology, and Zhejiang Jiaren New Materials' green recycled new material project with an annual output of 50,000 tonnes has been completed and put into production.

Urban mining refers to recoverable resources contained in waste such as used household appliances and electronic waste, whose reserves and grade can be compared with natural mines. This year's Government Work Report proposed vigorously developing the green and low-carbon economy and strengthening the circular utilization of renewable resources. With the implementation of the "two new" policies, localities have increased technological innovation and smoothed industrial chains, and the recovery rate and utilization rate of renewable resources have continued to rise.

In the field of waste household appliances, the recycling chain extends from communities to dismantling factories. In Chengxiangfang Community, Fuzhou, Fujian, recycler Wang Kunguang loaded old color TVs, air conditioner outdoor units, and other items onto a tricycle and sent them to a renewable resource recovery point, then transferred them uniformly to a dismantling enterprise in Yuanhong Investment Zone, Chengtou Town, Fuqing City. Fujian Hongyuan Environmental Resources Co., Ltd. is one of four enterprises in the province qualified to handle waste electrical and electronic products, and can process more than 2,000 waste household appliances per day. The entire dismantling process is monitored; refrigerators are broken down into plastic, metal, foam, and other parts, while waste oil, phosphor powder, and other materials are collected separately for harmless treatment. The removed plastic panels are transported to the Fuzhou Chengtou Renewable Resource Green Sorting Center, where, after cleaning, melting, and shaping by downstream enterprises, they can be made into park benches, trash bins, and other products; the center was put into use at the end of 2024, and its intelligent sorting system can sort 100 tonnes of plastic recyclables per day.

In the field of waste clothing, technological innovation is opening up a path for circular utilization. At a "Zhejiang BA" game in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, the white T-shirts worn by cheerleaders were made from recycled waste clothing, sponsored by Zhejiang Ailisi Dyeing and Finishing Co., Ltd. General Manager Xing Keli said that the polyester filaments in discarded clothing have considerable utilization value. In the past, difficulty in removing dyes, difficulty in cleaning impurities, and difficulty in meeting standards for the strength and color fastness of recycled fibers limited polyester recycling. Ailisi Dyeing and Finishing and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University jointly built a research and development center for high-quality circular regeneration of waste polyester, developing physical-chemical recovery and regeneration technology: physical treatment removes dyes and impurities while preserving fiber strength and flexibility, and chemical treatment uses environmentally friendly solvents and catalysts to decompose dye molecules, ensuring color fastness and performance. Jiang Fang, an associate professor at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University who participated in the research, said the technology is green, environmentally friendly, and economical, alleviating the environmental capacity problem of old clothing disposal while also allowing textile enterprises to obtain a stable fiber raw material nearby. Products produced by Zhejiang Jiaren New Materials Co., Ltd. using recycled DMT technology were once showcased at the China International Textile Yarn (Autumn/Winter) Exhibition. General Manager He Jianli introduced that the technology can produce recycled DMT new material with a purity of 99.9%, and the green recycled new material project with an annual output of 50,000 tonnes has been completed and put into production, with an expected production scale of 500,000 tonnes of green circular recycled fibers by 2030.

Digital transformation in the scrap steel sector is also accelerating. In Anshan, Liaoning, at the yard of Angang Scrap Steel Resources (Anshan) Co., Ltd., trucks fully loaded with scrap steel enter the unloading and sorting area after automatic weighing; intelligent equipment automatically grades materials through image recognition and comparison technology, distinguishing medium and heavy scrap steel, light and thin materials, and debris, then carries out automated processing such as shearing, magnetic separation, and screening; light and thin materials are rolled into tightly packed rectangular blocks by hydraulic balers. Gao Xuezhong, deputy general manager of the company, said that the fully automated process effectively separates metal from non-metallic impurities, greatly improving purity, and the baling method also reduces storage and transportation costs. Scrap steel is the only ferrous raw material that can replace iron ore in large quantities; every 1 tonne of scrap steel utilized can reduce carbon emissions by 1.6 tonnes and save about 2 tonnes of mineral resources. As a scrap steel procurement platform, Angang Green Gold Industry Development Co., Ltd. has built 5 core bases and 29 satellite bases in Liaoning's main steel-producing areas, forming a recycling and processing network covering Northeast China. Anshan relies on a digital platform for the renewable resource industry to standardize the production and operations of enterprises with access to scrap steel processing; as of now, 11 enterprises in the city have been selected for the national scrap steel processing industry access list, with a total approved production capacity of 7.85 million tonnes, and during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, scrap steel processing sales volume grew to 4.87 million tonnes.

For the old clothing industry, waste textile circular utilization is extending from end-of-pipe recycling to the material end. The industrialization of physical-chemical recycled fibers and recycled DMT provides technical support for a third outlet beyond old clothing export and domestic sales, and also increases the resource value of low-value old clothing.

Source: 2025 renewable resource recovery total about 380 million tonnes, recovery and utilization rate continuously improving: New industries grow from "urban mines" (Big Data Observation) · Originally published on 2026-04-09