Plastic product export volume from China 2009-2019

China is the world's leading plastic product exporting nation, exporting over 14.2 million tons of plastic in 2019 alone. In the last few decades, plastic has become an important aspect in everyday life as it is used in packaging, construction, transportation, and many other industries. China’s share of global plastics production has steadily increased from 26 percent in 2014 up to 31 percent in 2019, maintaining its firm grip on the global plastic industry.Consumption of plastics in ChinaAs the most populous country in the world, China has a high volume of plastic consumption. The Chinese government has tried to implement various bans on plastic use amongst its citizens, but most of those had little impact on consumption in recent years, as China’s consumption volume of plastic products further grew up to 90.9 million metric tons as of 2020. In July 2020, the Chinese authorities have introduced stricter restrictions on plastic provisions such as plastic bags in supermarkets, and plastic straws from take-away vendors, hoping to finally curb the high plastic consumption in the country.Plastic waste management in ChinaWith such high plastic consumption, a large share ended up in landfills. The Chinese government in 2020 pledged to end the use of single-use plastic bags and items from its major cities by the end of the year, as these items are the most difficult to dispose of and recycle. Despite a dip observed in 2018, China's disposal volume of plastic products has fluctuated at around 38 million metric tons in the last two years. Furthermore, the recycling rate of plastic products in China has been dropping over the past few years, and remained relatively low at 17.6 percent as of 2020.

中国乃全球领先的塑料产品出口国，仅2019年便出口超过1420万吨塑料。在过去几十年间，塑料已成为日常生活中不可或缺的组成部分，广泛应用于包装、建筑、交通及众多其他产业。自2014年的26%起，中国在全球塑料生产中的份额持续上升，至2019年已达31%，稳固地把握着全球塑料产业的领导地位。中国塑料消费量作为世界人口最多的国家，中国塑料消费量巨大。中国政府尝试对公民实施多项塑料使用禁令，但近年来，这些禁令对消费量的影响微乎其微，因为截至2020年，中国塑料产品的消费量进一步增长至9009万吨。2020年7月，中国当局对超市中的塑料袋和外卖商家的塑料吸管等塑料用品实施了更严格的限制措施，以期最终遏制国内的高塑料消费。中国塑料废物管理鉴于如此高的塑料消费量，大量塑料最终进入垃圾填埋场。2020年，中国政府承诺将在年底前终止主要城市中使用一次性塑料袋和物品，因为这些物品最难处置和回收。尽管在2018年观察到小幅下降，但中国塑料产品的处理量在过去两年中波动在约3800万吨，此外，中国塑料产品的回收率在过去几年一直在下降，截至2020年，回收率相对较低，为17.6%。