37
Chinese scientists pioneer industrial process to convert CO₂ into jet fuel (www.intellinews.com)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.ml
17 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 2 points 6 months ago (6 children)

@yogthos@lemmy.ml, since you're our resident China expert, I thought I'd ask: do you know if any of the PRC's companies are working on (or have even already solved!) the "plastics problem?" With regard to pollution, recycling, etc. I do remember their National Sword policy...🤔

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 12 points 6 months ago (5 children)

    China is shifting to a "non-waste" system, aiming for holistic lifecycle management of plastics. New national targets for 2030 include raising recycled plastic production to 19.5 million tons and increasing the use of recycled materials in cars, electronics, and packaging. https://www.plasticsnews.com/public-policy/sp-china-action-plan-recycled-plastics-2030/

    There's also a new green consumption drive http://www.china.org.cn/2026-01/07/content_118266914.shtml

    and a major push to shift to high value, closed loop recycling (you'd need to run the link through a translator) https://www.mj.org.cn/mjfc/mtjj/202603/t20260326_305587.htm

    Another interesting development is an effort to achieve sustainable reuse polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic in bottles, packaging, and textiles https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/break-down-plastic-waste-recycling-chemical-process-china/

    and to transform toxic industrial waste gas into hydrogen fuel https://en.people.cn/n3/2026/0109/c90000-20412332.html

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Plastic is a hard problem to solve since meaningfully recycling most of it requires a expensive energy and chemical inputs.

    Also, I'm running into some weird math. Doing some light searching, China’s plastic consumption demand will reach a peak at 119 million tons in 2030. That means their recycling target will be able to meet 16% of total plastic demand in China, but for comparison, China recycles 17% of it's plastic today. I doubt China is aiming for plastic recycling to remain about the same if it's supposed to be a new national target - I guess they might not be looking to increase the percentage of recycled plastic and are only interested in keeping up with demand? Or, probably likely, something is wrong with my sources because I can't get behind paywalls. 🤷‍♀️

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago (1 child)

    Genuine question - is there anything being done about - or do they even recognise - the insane overuse of plastic packaging?

    I love China, but one thing that drives me nuts is produce bring completely unnecessarily individually wrapped in plastic, then nestled in a plastoc tray, that is itself then wrapped in more plastic...

    In other words, is there any plan for "reduce", not just "reuse, recycle"?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] [S] 4 points 6 months ago

    I've noticed this is a general phenomenon in Asia unfortunately. Everything gets wrapped in plastic completely needlessly. As far as I know there isn't really any serious effort to combat that.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent