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 China

As 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 China

With 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.