Shanghai advances zero-waste low-carbon development citywide

Shanghai has been ramping up efforts in green and low-carbon development, rolling out a slew of measures, policies and regulations to build itself into a zero-waste city and support sectors ranging from carbon reduction to the circular economy.

The city took the lead in implementing China's first local regulation on "zero-waste city" development on June 24, achieving remarkable results citywide. Restaurants, e-commerce platforms and delivery companies have been encouraging residents to adopt a greener lifestyle by reducing disposable tableware and plastics and switching to recyclable packaging.

Nearly 1,000 industrial enterprises in the city have implemented more than 10,000 clean production improvement projects. Steel production companies, which typically generate a variety of by-products, are applying resource recovery technologies to process some of the by-products into eco-friendly cat litter, finding commercial value in wastes.

Household waste is also being effectively sorted and recycled for a new life. More than 15,000 recycling collection points, 193 transfer stations and 16 distribution centers have been established across the city, comprehensively optimizing a smart, community-friendly and mobile recycling model. Recycled polyester produced from discarded beverage bottles and food packaging can be used to make eco-friendly bags, laptop bags and cultural and creative products, reducing resource consumption and carbon emissions.

ATRenew Inc, launched in Shanghai in 2011, is a pioneer in the circular economy, known for recycling, processing and distributing pre-owned consumer electronics under its AHS Recycle brand. Last year, the company's net revenue reached 21 billion yuan ($3.11 billion), with 41.8 million pre-owned products transacted on its platform.

Notably, its LOVERE brand, which provides residents with convenient recycling services through intelligent recycling machines, collected 945,000 metric tons of recyclables last year, achieving a carbon reduction equivalent to 1.68 million metric tons, according to the company.

The city has also provided special funds and updated policies to support green and low-carbon development. Since 2008, Shanghai has established a special fund for energy conservation and emissions reduction and successively implemented dozens of subsidiary policies covering sectors such as industry, transportation, construction, the circular economy and pollution reduction. Over the past 18 years, cumulative funding allocations have exceeded 50 billion yuan, providing strong support for the city's green, low-carbon, and sustainable development, according to Liu Jia from Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission.

She added that the special fund has been optimized in line with the latest national and Shanghai requirements tied to the country's dual carbon goals, resonating with the green and low-carbon development chapter of the nation's Ecological and Environmental Code, which took effect on Saturday.

The optimized fund management regulation, effective till the end of 2030, supports a variety of sectors including energy, industry, transportation, construction, circular economy, resource utilization, pollution reduction and more.