Promoting the comprehensive utilization of industrial resources and enhancing resource-use efficiency not only helps advance green and low-carbon industrial development but also plays a crucial role in ensuring energy supply security.

This year, eight departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for Accelerating the Comprehensive Utilization of Industrial Resources" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan"), which sets forth specific goals and implementation pathways for industry development. The plan proposes that by 2025, the intensity of industrial solid waste generation in key sectors such as iron and steel, nonferrous metals, and chemicals will decline, and efforts will be made to achieve a comprehensive utilization rate of bulk industrial solid waste of 57%.

In recent years, what has been the level of comprehensive utilization of industrial solid waste in China? And in which areas should we further intensify our efforts? Our reporter interviewed relevant enterprises and experts.

The level of technological equipment is improving, and the variety of products is continuously expanding.

As you step into the Taiyuan production base of China Baowu Taigang Group, tons of raw materials are fed into the blast furnace, where molten iron is continuously refined into steel—yet almost no waste is visible. Steel companies are typically major producers of industrial solid waste. So how can they achieve “zero waste leaving the plant”?

As you step closer and take a closer look, the answer becomes clear: In the ironmaking process, molten iron flowing from the blast furnace is filtered through a slag-grating device. The blast-furnace slag is directly fed into a water-quenching unit, where it is first cooled and granulated before being further processed and ground into ultrafine slag powder—this powder can serve as a substitute for cement. Once the steelmaking process begins, the resulting steel slag is transported to a hot-retention treatment facility. There, it undergoes hot retention and magnetic separation, allowing the recovery of metallic materials. The residual slag is then used to produce ultrafine steel-slag powder and roadbase materials, among other applications.

“Steel slag and blast-furnace slag are the primary solid wastes generated during steel production, with Tai Steel producing about 5 million tons annually,” said Xie Haiyun, Deputy Director of the Energy and Environmental Protection Department at Tai Steel Group. “By promoting comprehensive utilization, we’ve successfully turned waste into valuable resources.” “As we enter the peak sales season for ultrafine powder, its profit margin has even surpassed that of some steel products, making comprehensive utilization a genuine new growth driver for the steel plant.”

“China’s industrial solid waste generation is substantial, with large stockpiles and significant challenges in comprehensive utilization,” said a relevant official from the Energy Conservation and Comprehensive Utilization Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Nevertheless, overall, China has achieved remarkable results in the comprehensive utilization of industrial resources in recent years—

The level of technological equipment continues to improve. Advanced and applicable technologies—such as supersonic steam grinding of steel slag, production of high-strength gypsum from industrial byproduct gypsum, and high-value utilization of retired power batteries—are being industrialized and widely adopted. The range of comprehensively utilized products is steadily expanding. New building materials—including sand and gravel aggregates, microcrystalline materials, and ceramic materials—produced from tailings and waste rock, as well as recycled metals and plastic products, are becoming increasingly diverse. According to industry estimates, China’s comprehensive utilization of bulk industrial solid wastes reached approximately 2 billion tons in 2020.

“Industrial solid waste is a resource that has been misplaced, and its comprehensive utilization is of great significance,” explained Li Bianzhuo, Vice President of the China Association for Circular Economy. On the one hand, large stockpiles of materials such as phosphogypsum, steel slag, and tailings pose significant ecological and environmental safety risks. By comprehensively utilizing these wastes to digest existing stockpiles, we can not only effectively alleviate environmental pressures but also enhance resource utilization efficiency, thereby safeguarding national resource security. On the other hand, large volumes of industrial solid waste can serve as substitutes for natural mineral resources in the production of construction materials and road construction, significantly reducing the need for mining natural ores and achieving remarkable energy savings and carbon emission reductions.

The comprehensive utilization rate for certain product categories is relatively low, making it difficult to expand market sales channels.

Although China’s industrial resource comprehensive utilization industry has achieved positive results, it still faces certain challenges in realizing high-quality development.

From a technical perspective, some product categories suffer from low overall utilization rates and generate relatively low added value due to technological limitations.

For example, phosphogypsum discharged by phosphate chemical enterprises—unless it undergoes online purification and impurity removal—has a relatively complex composition, resulting in low-quality gypsum that is difficult to scale up for practical use. Another example is tailings generated by the mining industry; while their comprehensive utilization often remains at the stage of extracting valuable elements from the tailings, this process easily leads to secondary pollution. Moreover, such extraction typically targets only a single element, leaving other valuable elements still trapped in the tailings.

“The lack of strong innovation capabilities among enterprises and the relatively low level of technological equipment, coupled with the fact that some critical technologies have yet to be breakthroughs, are major reasons for the insufficient capacity to scale up the utilization of industrial solid waste,” said a relevant official from the Energy Conservation and Comprehensive Utilization Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In response, the Implementation Plan proposes focusing on addressing weak links and industry bottlenecks, exploring efficient and comprehensive utilization technologies, intensifying efforts to develop large-scale utilization technologies and equipment, and accelerating the pace of large-scale, high-efficiency utilization.

From the application perspective, some products made from industrial solid waste face challenges in finding markets and still need to further enhance their market acceptance.

Li Bianzhuo introduced that currently, the comprehensive utilization approaches mainly manifest in three aspects: first, replacing natural mineral resources in the production of various construction materials; second, being used for road construction, mine backfilling, and other similar applications; and third, being employed to extract valuable elements such as iron, copper, lead, and zinc.

“You need not only to be able to use it effectively, but also to sell it well in order to ensure sustainability,” said Xie Haiyun. From the perspective of steelmaking, there are two major challenges in terms of application: First, valuable elements such as metals must be recycled and reused in production as much as possible, yet this process is still constrained by technological limitations. It requires a comprehensive approach that takes into account the production efficiency and product quality of existing processes. Second, it’s difficult for enterprises alone to expand the market for their products; to broaden their applications in industries like construction materials, supportive policies and guidance are also needed.

Focus on continuously tapping into the potential of complex ingredients and refine incentive mechanisms to stimulate endogenous motivation.

To further enhance the efficiency of comprehensive utilization of industrial solid waste, where should we focus our efforts?

Focus on continuously tapping the potential of complex components. The Implementation Plan proposes adopting tailored strategies for certain solid wastes characterized by complex compositions, high concentrations of hazardous substances, and unstable properties, thereby steadily enhancing their comprehensive utilization capabilities.

“Currently, the utilization rates of phosphogypsum, steel slag, red mud, tailings, and other such materials remain relatively low, occupying substantial land resources and posing significant risks to ecological and environmental safety,” said Li Bianzhuo. “Going forward, we need to adopt a tiered and quality-based approach to the utilization of steel slag generated during iron and steel smelting, expanding its applications in green building materials such as low-carbon cement and roadbase materials. As for red mud, we must overcome key technological challenges—including red-mud modification and quality-based utilization, as well as low-cost alkali removal—so as to promote its industrial-scale application in areas such as ceramic pellets, new-type cementitious materials, prefabricated building components, road construction materials, and iron ore beneficiation.”

Step up efforts to break through key technologies. Through models such as collaboration across the upstream and downstream segments of industrial chains, many industries have explored new technologies to enhance the comprehensive utilization of industrial solid waste. Baowu Environmental Science has assisted Baowu Group’s steel production bases in raising the rate of solid waste remaining within the plant—from 77.8% to nearly 100%—by adopting measures such as source reduction and process improvements. Tongxiang Power Supply Company of State Grid, together with Jingshun Environmental Energy Co., Ltd., has jointly launched a power-generation project that co-uses sludge and industrial solid waste. This project not only effectively addresses the challenges of sludge disposal but also reduces annual emissions by over 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide and more than 50 tons of sulfur dioxide.

Improve the incentive mechanism to stimulate endogenous motivation. The Implementation Plan proposes strengthening policy support and leveraging existing funding channels to support the construction of industrial resource comprehensive utilization projects. Land-use support will be provided for industrial resource comprehensive utilization projects that meet the relevant criteria. At the same time, financial institutions such as banks are encouraged to offer diversified credit support to industrial resource comprehensive utilization projects in accordance with market-oriented and commercially sustainable principles.

Promoting the high-value utilization of industrial solid waste often requires substantial investments in technological R&D and project construction, and the return on investment typically takes a long time. This can easily lead to insufficient internal momentum for comprehensive utilization. Industry insiders expressed their hope that various supporting measures will be implemented and take effect as soon as possible, helping the industry’s development accelerate.

“Accelerating the comprehensive utilization of industrial solid waste is not only an important pathway to achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality, but will also become a new driver of economic growth,” said Li Bianzhuo. The realization of the new target for comprehensive utilization rates will strongly propel China forward in taking a crucial step toward building a green industrial system.