China's new resin association aims to clear plastics' name

The China Synthetic Resin Supply & Sale Association made a debut at the Chinaplas 2012 trade show in Shanghai. The new trade group is formed by merging the former China Engineering Plastics Industry Association and the China Chemicals Supply & Sale Association and will host its first general assembly meeting in June.

The new group will aim to “clear the name of plastics,” among other tasks, said Chairman Yang Weicai at a news conference at Chinaplas.

Plastic materials have transformed the world with exceptional affordability, lightweight, durability, flexibility in design and production, and are used in numerous applications and sectors, he said. In the meantime, however, the safety and environmental impact of both plastics products and processing are increasingly raising public concern, especially in China.

“Some unlawful businesses have damaged the reputation of the plastics industry in their profiteering. Combined with the lack of effective regulatory efforts, it has resulted in a trust crisis among consumers,” Yang said.

In addition, because consumers generally lack deep knowledge of plastics and are bombarded with misleading, anti-plastics media reports, plastics has been demonized.

“Our responsibility is to take steps to help the public correctly understand plastics and the safe use of plastics products. Secondly, we need to come up with real solutions to end environmental pollutions caused by waste plastics. Last but not the least, we’ll guide the industry to better regulate itself and make sure the businesses comply with regulations and manufacture safe products in an environmentally friendly way,” Yang noted.

Plastics companies need to pay more attention to sustainability and the laws of nature, instead of just making a quick profit, added secretary general Zheng Kai.

The association said it is determined to invest in marketing campaigns that will inform consumers of objective knowledge and understanding of plastics materials and products.

Another important and fundamental task on the new group’s agenda is to maintain the balance of the marketplace, coordinate relations and protect its members – including materials research institutes, suppliers, compounders, processors, trading companies and logistics providers.

China is the largest consumer of synthetic resins and the second largest producer after the United States, Yang said. In 2011, China produced 48 million metric tons of resins, 14 percent higher than the previous year. The association forecasts that, by 2015, China’s consumption of plastic resins will reach 100 million metric tons and domestic production 70 million tons.

“The competition in China’s resin market will intensify,” Zheng said in a separate interview with Plastics News. “The current talks of free trade zones – such as the China-South Korea-Japan free trade deal – will speed up the changes of the global marketplace and impact Chinese resin suppliers as well as global suppliers that have production facilities in China.”

“We will represent the industry’s interests in various ways and help the government formulate policies and regulations including the synthetic resin industry’s 12th five year plan”, he added.

The association will establish more than a dozen of sub-committees to cover specific areas such as polyolefin, ABS, compounding, and so on.