Under the guidance of the 14 Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for China’s circular economy, Tangshan city, the major steel production base in North China’s Hebei province, is to become the country’s largest steel scrap recycling base as well, according to an implementation plan released by the Tangshan municipal government on November 23.
Over 2016-2020, Tangshan constructed facilities capable of recycling more than 32 million tonnes/year of waste and old materials, among which the capacity for ferrous scrap was above 30 million tonnes/year, the implementation plan notes. During the period, the ratio of steel produced using scrap by the city’s steelmakers had reached 22.88%.
“Tangshan has become North China’s largest steel scrap recycling base and plays an important role in energy saving and carbon emissions reduction,” the plan points out.
The implementation plan proposes that by 2025, Tangshan’s annual consumption of ferrous scrap should reach 40 million tonnes, establishing the city as the country’s largest steel scrap recycling base by that time. To achieve this goal, a series of measures will be rolled out to promote steel scrap collection and utilization, the report notes.
The government of Tangshan will encourage local steelmakers to replace more blast furnaces (BFs) with electric arc furnaces (EAFs) in the coming three years, with the aim to lift steel scrap use in the city’s steelmaking operations to more than 30% by 2025. During this period, Tangshan’s annual output of crude steel produced from steel scrap is planned to increase to 36 million tonnes, 33% higher than that over 2016-2020.
Tangshan city spans 13,700 sq kilometres and has a population approaching 8 million, while the implementation plan notes that the city hosts 27 steel mills, including BF mills and EAF mills. In 2021, Tangshan’s total crude steel output reached 131.1 million tonnes, according to Mysteel data.
The plan also says that during 2022-2025, Tangshan will optimize its waste recycling system comprising the collection network, disposal parks, and utilization of industry chains, expanding it to cover the whole city, as well as radiating out to nearby cities such as Beijing and Tianjin.
The report identifies ten categories of waste materials, including steel, motors, electric appliances, cloths, paper, tyres, glass, batteries and others, Mysteel Global notes.
According to the plan, the number of waste collection sites in Tangshan will increase to 366 by 2025, rising substantially by 357.5% from 2020, while the number of waste recycling companies will increase from 42 to 55.
Against this backdrop, the government will encourage more resource regeneration enterprises from elsewhere in China to expand their businesses in Tangshan so that they can promote the establishment of large-scale and specialized centers for each process of waste recycling across the city, the plan noted.
Meanwhile, authorities in Tangshan will support channels currently trading used and end-of-life goods and commodities by setting up specialized trading platforms and introducing online trading models, the plan mentions. This will help facilitate the circulation of steel scrap and other waste materials.
By 2025, Tangshan is expected to have 260 commercial tenants dealing in used goods and waste materials, 80 more than during 2016-2020, while there will be 12 physical markets for second-hand trading, according to the implementation plan.
Written by Anthea Shi, shihui@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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