(59c) Circular Economy – from Conception to Practice in China

In recent years, for effectively settling confliction among rapid growing economy and resource, energy and environment, and realizing sustainable development, Chinese government has actively pushed Circular Economy development pattern in China. From three different aspects, different measures are applied. In the social aspect, policies and legislation as well as new moral standards for the circular economy are being investigated and built. In the industrial aspect, industrial circular economy and Eco-Industrial Parks (EIP) are being energetically developed. In the enterprise aspect, advanced technologies are desired to be used and cleaner productions are being implemented. So far the state environment protection administration and the national development and reform commission of China have approved more than 100 state-level circular economy experimental units which include circular economy experimental cities, eco-industrial parks and circular economy enterprises. Meanwhile more and more local experimental EIPs and enterprises are also being built.

The industry is the most important loop of the circular economy chain in China, since it consumes most of material and energy resources and causes a large amount of pollution emission. The eco-industry pattern by raising resource and energy efficiencies and reducing waster discharge was considered as an effective and feasible route for industrial sustainable development, which is getting a fast progress at present in China. For that, following technical principles should be comprehensively applied for retrofitting Chinese industrial production pattern in many practical cases. 1. Replace. Renewable resources and energy are introduced to substitute traditional mineral resources and energy. Advanced technologies are adopted to replace behindhand and polluting processes. New materials and products are produced and used. 2. Reduce. Source reduction technologies are applied to decrease material and energy consumption and waste emission. Smart products with higher efficiency are designed and used to practice. 3. Reuse. Mass and energy are utilized by multilevel. Waster generated in one process is tried to be utilized as raw material of other processes. 4. Recycle. Consumed products such as waste steel, electronic trash, water plastic and rubber etc. are recovered, disassembled and remanufactured into new resources and products. The vein industry is being paid more and more attention in China. 5. Integration. System engineering and industrial ecology method are combined into circular economy development planning for EIPs and enterprises. Mass, energy, water and information integrations are being comprehensively applied to construct eco-industrial systems.

For better guiding practice development of circular economy, theoretical study on this field is becoming an academic hotspot in China. Main researches include industrial metabolism analysis, mass flow analysis, industrial symbiosis analysis, life-cycle assessment, complex system analysis, system integration methods, public policies and legislation investigation, as well as development of supporting technologies of circular economy etc. It can be expected circular economy theories and practices will be greatly developed under Chinese government's active promotion, and China will be able to gradually progress in a sustainable development way.