In Tianjin, valuable junk gets new life

In a factory building in Tianjin's Jinghai district, a junk car undergoes precise disassembly and materials purification on the production line. It is reduced back to basic useful materials that can be sold in a process of orderly rebirth.

Tianjin Sinone Group has been facilitating the green transformation of waste and is capable of dismantling one vehicle every 60 seconds. It can process more than 200,000 vehicles in a year, 1 million tons of steel and aluminum and 1.5 million household appliances, achieving full coverage of the recycling and utilization of all types of renewable resources.

Nowadays, copper rods of high purity are a key innovative product of Sinone. "This product is refined from 100 percent recycled copper and has a copper content as high as 99.99 percent," said Du Yuchun, Sinone's office director.

In the early 2000s, when the Tianjin Ziya Economic and Technological Development Area was established, Sinone was among the first companies to settle in.

"In 2012, with the approval of the General Office of the State Council, the Tianjin Ziya Economic and Technological Development Area was upgraded to become the first national-level economic and technological development zone in China with circular economy as its leading industry," said Wang Nenglun, a staff member of Sinone.

It now has 177 factory areas and more than 200 enterprises settled in, with an annual waste recycling volume of about 2 million metric tons and a total output value of nearly 20 billion yuan. The output value of renewable resources is about 15 to 16 billion yuan.

"Ziya Park has gradually evolved from the initial primitive dismantling method to a standardized park model. This transformation provides a replicable and referential demonstration path for related industries," said Zhang Yanjiang, general manager of Tianjin Ziya Economic Development Group Co.

The upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit will discuss green development as one of its core topics. In the circular economy, a key area of the green industry, China is not only at the forefront of SCO countries but also "provides a Chinese solution for regional cooperation by continuously improving circular economy practices," Zhang said.

Against this backdrop, the development area is focusing on building a green industrialization demonstration base. It will cover an area of approximately 58 hectares and construct 466,800 square meters of green, high-standard factories.

"We will host many multinational enterprises involved in the circular economy, new energy, new materials, equipment manufacturing and remanufacturing. Our products will be sold to many countries, including SCO nations," said Li Wang, investment director of the industrial demonstration base project.

Chen Yijun and Bao Yan contributed to this story.