context: After the release of the new energy system construction 15th 5-year plan, Beijing is filling out its 15th 5-year plan (2026–30) green-economy framework. The National Development and Reform Commission has now issued the circular economy development 15th 5-year plan. The circular economy is a key pillar tied to resource security, the dual-carbon goals and reducing import dependence on critical materials.
In an official interpretation, Zhu Liyang 朱黎阳 and Duanmu Xiangci 端木祥慈 China Association of Circular Economy frame the newly issued circular economy development 15th 5-year plan as a whole-chain blueprint that fills institutional gaps and clarifies the development path from resource use through recovery.
They set out five main directions the plan pursues across the resource lifecycle
- source reduction
- the PRC's main-resource output rate rose about 77 percent over 2012 by 2025
- the plan tackles resource cutting at three levels
- green design and material-saving processes at the product end
- cleaner-production retrofits in high-water, high-energy and high-solid-waste sectors
- simpler, greener consumption society-wide, curbing over-packaging and waste
- turning solid waste into resources
- with bulk industrial solid-waste utilisation at 57 percent and crop-straw utilisation above 88 percent, the plan now folds the 'new three' waste streams—spent power batteries, wind and solar equipment—into the recycling map, building differentiated technical and industrial paths for each, alongside 'urban mining' of traditional materials
- expanding reuse
- the plan works four levers to scale reuse into a real industry, shifting reuse from small-scale repair toward market-based, large-scale operation
- orderly imports of quality overseas recycled feedstock
- wider use of recycled materials in autos, appliances and daily chemicals
- remanufacturing of machinery, auto parts and high-end equipment like industrial robots and aviation gear
- a more regulated second-hand goods market
- the plan works four levers to scale reuse into a real industry, shifting reuse from small-scale repair toward market-based, large-scale operation
- densifying the recovery network
- the PRC has built around 150,000 recovery points and 1,800 large sorting centres, but links remain patchy
- the plan builds separate closed-loop systems for industrial-source, social-source and priority-category waste—the latter covering scrap steel and non-ferrous metals plus spent batteries, wind-solar equipment and computing-power facilities—with deeper 'internet-plus' and AI application
- industrial upgrading
- to cultivate 'new quality productive forces' in the sector, the plan works
- capacity layout (with a capacity early-warning and control mechanism)
- R&D in key technologies (smart sorting, fine dismantling, high-end remanufacturing)
- a stronger circular-economy service industry
- tighter market-access and cross-department enforcement
- to cultivate 'new quality productive forces' in the sector, the plan works
They highlight four support mechanisms the plan builds
- legal foundation
- revising circular-economy laws and regulations, firming up extended producer responsibility, and pairing national rules with local promotion regulations
- standards
- setting up a national circular-economy standardisation technical committee, and notably bringing typical circular-economy activities into the national voluntary GHG-reduction (CCER) market and carbon-inclusion schemes, while pursuing mutual recognition with international standards to open markets for recycled products
- statistics and evaluation
- improving the circular-economy statistical indicator system and classified evaluation of firms, to give policy a solid data base
- comprehensive policy support
- deploying fiscal funds, the VAT immediate-refund policy for resource utilisation, 'reverse invoicing', green credit and paid treatment of hard-to-use bulk solid waste and construction debris, pairing policy guidance with market drivers
They close by stressing the plan's emphasis on implementation, calling on government, firms, industry associations, research institutions and the public each to play their part in what they cast as a critical period for the circular economy to move from quantitative accumulation toward a qualitative leap.