Recovery and Reuse of Waste Materials: Foreign Experience and Implications for China

How to reuse waste materials has been one of the most important problems that China has to address. Compared with foreign countries, the overall recovery ratio of waste materials in China is still at a low level, and there is still a giant gap between China and foreign countries on laws and regulations, industrial chain, recycling operations and so forth. The paper summarizes firstly foreign effective measures in the treatment of waste materials such as waste batteries, waste glass, waste plastics and scrap metal. Then, combing with China’s current situation, the paper proposes a mutual participation mode involving the government, the enterprises and the public to promote the development of waste material industries in China.