Trends in material metabolism of China's PET industry and potential of PET recycling for pollution and carbon reduction

LI Rui; GU Yifan; WU Yufeng; GUO Fu

doi:10.13205/j.hjgc.202511024

Volume 43 Issue 11

Nov. 2025

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Article Navigation > ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING > 2025 > 43(11): 213-221

LI Rui, GU Yifan, WU Yufeng, GUO Fu. Trends in material metabolism of China's PET industry and potential of PET recycling for pollution and carbon reduction[J]. ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING , 2025, 43(11): 213-221. doi: 10.13205/j.hjgc.202511024

Citation:

LI Rui, GU Yifan, WU Yufeng, GUO Fu. Trends in material metabolism of China's PET industry and potential of PET recycling for pollution and carbon reduction[J]. ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING , 2025, 43(11): 213-221. doi: 10.13205/j.hjgc.202511024

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Trends in material metabolism of China's PET industry and potential of PET recycling for pollution and carbon reduction

doi: 10.13205/j.hjgc.202511024

College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China

Received Date: 2024-07-22
Accepted Date: 2024-09-16
Rev Recd Date: 2024-08-30

Available Online: 2026-01-09

Abstract

Abstract

Polyethylene terephthalate （PET） is widely used in bottle flakes， textile fibers， films， etc.， which generates a large amount of discarded PET products. This results in prominent environmental impacts and an urgent need to explore the mechanism of synergistic efficiency in pollution reduction and carbon reduction. This study identified the dynamic material flow pattern of China's PET industry from 2000 to 2025， measured the environmental impact of the business with the life cycle assessment method， and revealed that recycling is the optimal path for the industry to reduce pollution and synergize with carbon reduction. The results show that China's PET consumption in 2025 will increase by 10.87 times compared with 2000， and the industry's greenhouse gas emissions and acidification potential in 2025 will reach 194.7 Mt CO₂-eq and 0.16 Mt SO₂-eq， which are 11.1 times and 10.1 times higher than that in 2000， respectively； recycling can effectively replace the environmental impacts of the development process of primary resources， and significantly reduce the quantities for landfill and incineration. From 2000 to 2025， recycling method achieves a cumulative reduction of 19.2% of greenhouse gas emissions， and makes cumulative human toxicity， acidification potential and abiotic resource consumption decreased by 21.9%， 19.0% and 18.7%， respectively. It is recommended to realize the technological upgrading of recycling processes， accelerate the construction of green recycling industry chain， and realize the quality improvement of recycled resources by increasing the proportion of chemical recycling.
- PET industry,
- material flow analysis,
- life cycle assessment,
- pollution and carbon reduction,
- recycling

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References(34)

References

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