Last year, the nation's first green sorting center for both high- and low-value recyclables began operation in Fuzhou, enabling the collection of all types of plastic.

No higher value plastics have achieved recycling of the "one just just right" material. Even the low-value plastics have also a new birth. The plastic waste recycling intelligent production line can separate out plastic basin, shampoo bottle, laundry bottle, etc. 16 kinds of products. The low-value membrane intelligent production line is particularly impressive. It can separate out white shopping bags and black, green, blue garbage bags, and then transform them into egg cartons and garbage bags, achieving "drying the pulp and refining the product".

The sorting center can sort 100 tons of plastic recyclables per day, and through high-level digitalization, it has established an intelligent sorting system for "collection, selection, storage" with a QR code tracking mechanism. This system enables intelligent pricing, one-click inventory checks, and automatic generation of business reports. "The finer the sorting, the greater the value," said Xin Yachao, head of Fuzhou City Investment Digital Technology. Traditional sorting relied on manual estimation, making inventory checks difficult, and accounting even more challenging. The intelligent sorting line precisely categorizes materials, accurately calculating the benefits that each bag of plastic waste can produce, thereby overturning the previous crude accounting mechanism. This has increased gross profit to 30%, and to some extent, is also driving a transformation in the recycling system.

It is to strengthen the recycling resource end-use ability of the waste sorting center, while building the strong end-use treatment ability in the back-end treatment part, improve the treatment capability of plastic waste recycling, and further perfect the integrated garbage classification two-stream recycling system of the "three ends unite the three ends" municipal solid waste recycling system, and aid the construction of "zero waste city".

The "Smart Waste Sorting Integrated System" includes smart garbage houses, recycling points that integrate two networks, and convenient points for earning rewards. According to the categories of kitchen waste (green), recyclables (blue), other waste (black), and hazardous waste (red), the garbage house is equipped with six panels. Residents can simply press a button, and the corresponding opening on the panel will automatically open, allowing them to dispose of their waste by category. Inside the house, supervisors manually open bags and are responsible for completing the waste transfer.

On the other side of the wall, at a two-net integration recycling point, nearby residents frequently come by with items such as cardboard, paper, and plastic bottles for recycling. Under the guidance of volunteers, residents can either exchange their waste for other goods, convert it into points through the "Rong Xiaofen" mini program, or receive cash directly. The points can also be used to exchange for various items at the neighboring积分驿站 (point station).

It is understood that the construction of 20 "smart waste sorting complexes" in Fuzhou has covered more than 100,000 households and 300,000 people. This year, Fuzhou City Investment New Infrastructure Group plans to construct 50 "two-network integration recycling stations" in the five urban districts of Fuzhou and launch the "Rong Xiaofen" classification points platform, extending the intelligent sorting system to the front end. A waste sorting two-network integration system, with "intelligent supervision as the foundation, point incentives as the link, and two-network integration as the business closed loop," is continuously taking shape.

In March, the "Full Category Plastic Recycling Sorting Plant and Digital Recycling System" was officially included in the pilot project library of Fuzhou's modern commerce and circulation system. In the future, Fuzhou will also accelerate the layout of a waste recycling system throughout the city, and a second comprehensive intelligent sorting center for low-value recyclable materials is under planning and construction.