"Chinaplas" has opened its gates. Around 3,615 exhibitors are presenting their machinery, raw materials and services at what is the largest plastics trade show in Asia and the world's undisputed number two industry event being held in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou from 21-24 May 2019. There could easily have been more exhibitors if the exhibition area had not been limited to 250,000 m², said Stanley Chu, founder and chair of trade fair organiser Adsale (Hong Kong / China; www.adsale.com.hk), at the “Media Day” ahead of Chinaplas. Even though Chinaplas in Guangzhou has far less space than the alternating venue in Shanghai (see Plasteurope.com of 24.04.2018), just as many visitors are expected as in 2019, when there were more than 180,000, of which 50,000 came from abroad.

This year’s visitors can expect an enormous show. According to the organisers, more than 3,800 machines will be on display. Over 180 technologies will also be presented for the very first time in Asia or worldwide. As far as materials and products are concerned, says Adsale, fibre-reinforced components are among the top highlights, followed by lightweight materials for e-cars, materials for 5G networks, graphite-based conductive materials and plastics for medical applications. Among the technologies presented, "Industry 4.0" tops the list. Other key topics include solutions for cost-efficient small-series production, automation, liquid silicone injection moulding, multilayer injection moulding and co-extrusion.

According to Chu, China's plastics industry is benefiting from a stronger alignment to higher-quality products. The country with the largest population in the world has, for some time now, no longer been the "cheap workbench" of days gone by. The domestic industry also benefits from tax concessions, foreign investment and plans for the massive installation of a 5G telecommunications network. A study from GSMA (www.gsma.com) estimates that there will be 460m connections in 2025. The plastics industry is receiving an additional boost from the growing economy – for 2019, an increase of 6.5% is expected – and from the increasing per capita consumption, which reached 65 kg in 2018 (54.1 kg in 2017). Nevertheless, Chu sees a "certain" negative impact – but not a significant one – from the trade war between China and the US.

Adsale has taken account of the growing importance of plastics recycling by staging its own conference. It was held ahead of the show in parallel with the Media Day. Over 30 speakers discussed trends, opportunities and challenges of a circular economy. The plastics segment is undergoing a massive transition, particularly as China banned the import of plastics waste in 2017. The relevant imports have collapsed dramatically – in 2016, according to Chinese statistics authorities, they amounted to 7.3m t with a market value of USD 3.7 bn (see Plasteurope.com of 20.04.2018).

Chinese companies in the plastics industry see circular economy issues as important and many are already using recycling machinery and recycled materials, according to a survey by CPRJ (see Plasteurope.com of 29.04.2019).

Many Chinese recyclers were then no longer able to fill their capacities because the country lacks a continuous recycling chain. It is now a question of building up such a system, including the relevant quality standards. And time is short. Observers are working on the assumption that China, because of advancing urbanisation and the increasing prosperity of its 1.4 bn inhabitants, will produce nearly a quarter of the world's municipal waste in 2025.