China's State Development and Reform Commission has drafted an administrative regulation on the recycling and use of retired tires, which is hailed as a concrete act in implementing the recyclable economy strategy called on recently by the central government.
Aside from the regulation, it is learned that the SDRC is also studying supporting technological and economic policies and preferential taxation treatment in favor of recovering retired tires. These measures may include the use of proceeds raised from treasury bonds to promote technological advancement in recovering retired tires and create a related industry.
So far, treasury bond proceeds have been earmarked for three retired tire recycling projects and one related state-class demonstrative project.
The efforts of the SDRC in this regard also have been echoed by other ministries such as the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Communications, and the Ministry of Construction.
The Ministry of Education plans to list reclaiming resources from retired tires as a research subject in its state-class recyclable economy innovation bases, which aims to give theoretical and technological guidance in recycle of retired tires.
The Ministry of Communications will focus on new fields in recovering and using retired tires. It has built test roads for application of recycled tires throughout the country.
The Ministry of Construction is also making similar tests in urban road construction.
The volume of retired tyres in China has increased sharply in recent years. It topped 112 million units last year, and is expected to exceed 200 million by 2010.