Reporters Zhao Peng and Zhao Yuhan

When garbage classification has become a hot topic in China, the plastic products industry has experienced an abnormal phenomenon of turning from off-season to boom.

In a plastic products factory in Taizhou, Zhejiang, hundreds of employees are working overtime to make classified garbage bins. Along with the bass of hundreds of injection molding machines, the container trucks lined up in the yard to load goods also show a prosperous scene.

Not only plastic products factories, but also some companies involved in manufacturing, service and recycling industries have discovered new markets recently with the advancement of garbage classification. Some analysis even shows that garbage classification will drive a market size of about 200 billion.

Next year, 46 cities in China will enter the era of garbage classification. This blue ocean is also attracting various giants and entrepreneurs to rush in with increasing attraction.

Online service with both throwing and collecting

On June 25, Ele.me's "garbage throwing service" was quietly launched in Shanghai. As long as you pay a unit price of 12 yuan, you can find someone to run errands and throw away garbage within 3 kilometers. Although it still requires users to complete garbage sorting first, and the takeaway brother is only responsible for throwing it into the right trash can, the launch of the service is also considered a "new vane".

In addition to large enterprises, many individuals have also set their sights on the market of garbage disposal. The reporter searched for "Shanghai garbage disposal" as the keyword on Xianyu and found that such services appeared in the "fish ponds" of 44 communities, with single charges ranging from 2 yuan to more than 10 yuan, and even monthly prices of 70 to 100 yuan.

If you search for "garbage sorting" and "garbage disposal" as keywords in 58.com Shanghai Station, the results that appear include not only door-to-door services, but also education and training, software development, VR equipment rental and other industries.

Tap Alipay on your phone and the appointment is completed in less than a minute. An hour later, the community recycling staff came to the door and took away the old TV that had been idle for nearly a year at a price of 150 yuan, which made Aunt Li, who lives in Jianing Garden, Pengpu Town, Jing'an District, exclaim "too convenient".

At present, the Alipay garbage classification and recycling platform has covered at least 16 cities in China. Citizens' daily waste, from plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, paper, glass bottles, etc. to large furniture and other waste, can be recycled at home.

Yang Wei, the person in charge of the platform, said that in the six months since it went online, more than 2 million people have placed orders to "sell garbage", of which nearly 50,000 kilograms of waste paper and nearly 6,000 kilograms of waste plastics have been recycled.

"The most is waste clothing, reaching more than 200,000 kilograms." Yang Wei said that this shows that citizens have an urgent "just need" for garbage recycling.

Plastic products industry is on fire

From July 1, Shanghai officially implemented the "Shanghai Municipal Domestic Waste Management Regulations", and the preparatory work of each community had already started a few months ago. Data from Taobao shows that as early as April and May this year, many properties purchased "classified trash cans" on Taobao, causing some Taobao merchants to almost sell out. For example, the dry and wet separation trash cans of "Haitao City Japanese Imported Homes" on Taobao have to be limited to one per person.

The data provided by Pinduoduo to reporters showed that since June, the sales of its trash can category-related products have soared by more than 500%, and the sales of many trash cans have exceeded 100,000 orders. Relevant staff of Suning.com also told reporters that the sales of classified trash cans in June this year increased by 157.4% month-on-month, and the sales in Shanghai increased by 12 times.

Such sales have also ushered in the peak sales season for the plastic products production industry. The more than 50,000 square meters of Feida Sanhe factory in Taizhou are a busy scene. "Especially since the end of June, the daily sales have doubled." General Manager Wang Ying said.

June to August was originally the off-season for China's plastic products industry, but now it is a lively scene of "booming supply and demand", and classified trash cans are always in short supply.

At the Luqiao Hangxing Plastic Mold Factory in Taizhou, trucks are waiting in line while workers are working in three shifts to rush production. According to its executive vice general manager Tang Chuanyu, customers often wait here until midnight.

Since June, the sales of classified trash cans in Taizhou have accounted for nearly one-fifth of China's total sales, with an annual year-on-year growth rate of more than 60%. It is the efficient promotion of garbage classification that can turn the "off-season" of traditional manufacturing into the "peak season".

Recycling and processing contain a large market

How big is the market size of garbage classification? The reporter noticed that although the statistical calibers of various parties are different, in some recent market analyses, many parties have predicted that the scale of the garbage classification market is at least more than 100 billion yuan, and some optimists predict that it will reach around 200 billion yuan. For example, an analysis report by Orient Securities shows that if the Shanghai model is promoted to China's urban population, garbage classification will drive the market size to more than 196 billion yuan. According to the Economic Daily, industry insiders predict that the market will release 20 billion to 30 billion yuan of production capacity in the next year, and the industry scale will reach 200 billion to 300 billion yuan within 10 years.

Qichacha data shows that from June to now, China has newly registered as many as 165 companies involved in garbage sorting business, and more than 4,000 companies involved in renewable resources business.

Fan Lishuang has been engaged in the field of garbage sorting since 2016 and founded Weidu Technology to engage in the research and development of intelligent garbage sorting equipment and big data platforms. "There are entrepreneurial opportunities in the entire industry chain. "Internet +" recycling is mainly centered on the delivery and collection links, but there are also many entrepreneurial opportunities in the transportation and disposal links." He said.

Even for wet garbage that cannot be recycled, some companies are eyeing it. A relevant person in charge of JD.com revealed to reporters that in the category of garbage shredders, in addition to the traditional Edison and KitchenBonder, products from home appliance companies such as Haier, Whirlpool, Midea, and Royalstar, as well as related building materials brands such as Submarine, Moen, Kohler, and Oulin are also being launched one after another.

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