Editor's Note

As a long-established leading enterprise in the field of sorting, Meiya Optoelectronics continues to increase its innovative research and development. In 2023, the company invested a total of 148.695 million yuan in research and development, a year-on-year increase of 21.31%. This high-intensity R&D investment has brought many innovative results. Meiya Optoelectronics continues to break through technical barriers and take the recycling resource sorting technology to a higher level.

On New Year's Day 2024, China's 3A-grade rPET cleaning industry welcomed its first unmanned sorting factory that achieved 22-hour continuous production and a daily input of more than 300 tons of bottle bricks, opening a new chapter in the development of the industry.

1. Meiya Optoelectronics and Sanming Rongyuan

In 2023, the domestic sheet-grade recycled bottle flakes had a serious overcapacity and the market situation took a sharp turn for the worse. As the price of virgin polyester chips continued to fall, some sheet factories lowered the price of recycled bottle flakes, maliciously owed money on credit, and even withheld payments, causing chaos in the industry.

Sanming Rongyuan Recycling Resources Co., Ltd. had been deeply engaged in the field of sheet-grade blue and white bottle flakes. It resolutely stopped work and production, dismantled all the original production lines, and re-started a 3A-grade rPET cleaning and processing production line.

At that time, domestic 3A-level rPET factories were springing up like mushrooms after rain, and the competition was fierce. If Sanming Rongyuan wanted to gain a foothold in the cleaning industry surrounded by strong competitors, it had to reduce production costs to the extreme while ensuring excellent product quality. Therefore, Sanming Rongyuan boldly proposed the idea of unmanned sorting.

The raw materials of Chinese bricks are complex, with bottles of different colors and materials mixed in. Aged bottles and fluorescent bottles are common, and there are also a large number of PET white bottles with added barrier agents. To stably produce high-quality 3A-grade rPET from such raw materials, unmanned sorting is undoubtedly a difficult challenge, which requires bold ideas and rigorous verification.

Therefore, after repeated discussions and demonstrations, Meiya Optoelectronics and Sanming Rongyuan polished out more than 40 versions of sorting schemes within a month. Finally, the scheme was finalized in September, the whole line was installed in November, the trial run was successfully debugged in December, and mass production was successfully carried out in January 2024.

2. Meiya Optoelectronics and Fulin Environmental Protection

In early January 2024, Anhui Fulin Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. decided to upgrade and transform the 3A-level rPET washing line, striving to significantly increase the feed rate from 15 tons/hour to 25 tons/hour.

When Anhui Fulin learned that Sanming Rongyuan had achieved unmanned sorting, Anhui Fulin did some calculations: now at 15 tons/hour, a shift must have 50 pickers; if 25 tons/hour of unmanned sorting could be achieved, then two shifts could save 20,000 yuan in labor costs a day, or 6 million yuan a year.

Subsequently, all work was carried out in an orderly manner. In April 2024, the factory officially started mass production and the production capacity was successfully met. Not only that, the yield rate of 3A bottle flakes also jumped from the previous 38% to 45%.

Another case of outstanding achievements.

3. Meiya Optoelectronics and Fujian Canhua

In March 2024, after gaining a deep insight into the new trends in the industry, Fujian Canhua Environmental Protection Materials Co., Ltd. decisively decided to use one production line as a pilot to replace some of the original imported brand bottle machines with Meiya bottle machines. The effect of this replacement was immediate, not only successfully controlling the proportion of barrier bottles, but also reducing the labor for sorting by 85%. Fujian Canhua said that the stability and sorting effect of the Meiya bottle machine far exceeded expectations.

Subsequently, Fujian Canhua purchased 50 bottle-filling machines from Meiya at one time and carried out comprehensive renovation and upgrading of the remaining production lines. The fruitful results of the renovation of the old line further stimulated Fujian Canhua's ambition to open up new lines. In the planning of the new production line, Fujian Canhua adopted Meiya bottle-filling machines + Meiya sheet sorting machines on the entire line to replace all the imported brand bottle-filling machines originally planned. After the new line was put into production, the sorting stations for 3A bottles, blue and white bottles, and green bottles were all cancelled, and Meiya helped the industry achieve unmanned sorting again.

4. Meiya Optoelectronics and Jiangsu Jiulong

In March, the Xuyi factory of Jiangsu Jiulong Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. also embarked on the road of transformation and upgrading from clean bricks to rough bricks. Jiangsu Jiulong took the initiative to propose cooperation with Meiya, requiring that while realizing unmanned sorting, this rough brick production line be built into a digital benchmark.

Facing new demands and challenges, the Meiya Optoelectronics Recycling Resources team spent three months to once again deliver a nearly perfect answer to Jiulong Environmental Protection. Subsequently, Meiya Optoelectronics signed a procurement contract with Jiangsu Jiulong for the Hubei and Changshu factories, requiring the production lines of the remaining factories to be upgraded according to the configuration of the Xuyi factory.

5. Meiya Optoelectronics and more partners

In 2024, Meiya Optoelectronics will make rPET washing line unmanned sorting production lines spread all over the country:

• In April, Quanzhou Port Benefit;
• In May, Hubei Yafeng;
• In June, Hubei's Jingxiang and Yunfu are beautiful;
• In July, Jiangsu Peipu built a new 200,000 tons/year rPET production line;
• In August, Hubei Hengxin and Hebei Jinxiang;
• In September, Zhongzaishu in Luoyang, Henan, and Longmao in Hebei;
• In October, Anhui Huanjia Tianyi;
• In November, Fujian Zhongjia Plastics;
• In December, Hebei Jinyi built a new 200,000 tons/year rPET production line.

(To protect customer privacy, only some are listed)

With its highly professional solution design, top-notch production level, excellent sorting effect, stable and reliable operation guarantee and responsive after-sales service, Meiya Optoelectronics stands out in the market, won a large number of orders and won unanimous praise from the industry.

According to incomplete statistics, the 3A-level rPET unmanned sorting production line delivered by Meiya Optoelectronics in 2024 will reduce the total sorting labor volume by about 1,000 people per day, saving 40 million yuan in manual sorting costs per year.

This is not only a highlight moment for Meiya Optoelectronics, but also a powerful testimony to the new era of China's rPET cleaning industry! Thanks to these pioneers who took the lead in the industry, actively faced the challenges and bravely explored!

In order to deeply explore the future development trend of PET recycling, share new cases, new achievements and new technologies, and judge the new industrial opportunities brought about by them, Beijing Guojia Jiye Confidence Consulting Co., Ltd. and New Observation on Waste Plastics will hold the ChinaRePET 2025 PET Recycling Forum.

The organizer has invited Meiya Optoelectronics and its cooperative customers: Sanming Rongyuan, Fulin Environmental Protection, Fujian Canhua, Jiangsu Jiulong, Quanzhou Gangyi, Hubei Yafeng, Hubei Jingxiang, Yunfu Xiamei, Jiangsu Peipu, Hubei Hengxin, Hebei Jinxiang, Henan Luoyang Zhongzai Plastic, Hebei Longmao, Anhui Huanjia Tianyi, Fujian Zhongjia Plastic, Hebei Jinyi to attend. In addition, the organizer is compiling a list of hot wash plants across the country and will invite them one by one.

Source of competitive advantage: continuous upgrading of technology, equipment and digitalization

March 20, 2025 · Suzhou Chinese-English Simultaneous Interpretation

Forum Agenda

1. Industry data research

China recycled PET market and price research

Trends of recycled PET market in Europe and the United States

China's recycled PET capacity map released

Statistics of projects under construction in China

2. Improvement of competitiveness of recycled PET enterprises

Process upgrade

Equipment Upgrades

Digital Upgrade

3. Identification of recycled PET

Advances in multiple identification technologies and methods

4. Recycled PET for food contact and primary recycling

Capacity analysis and new capacity estimation

Estimation of future policy implementation methods

5. High-end regeneration equipment

Cleaning, sorting, granulation, viscosity increasing

6. Recycled PET chemical recycling and biological recycling technologies and projects

New technologies and new projects

7. Recycled PET application market

Recycled fiber market analysis

Recycled PET Sheet Market Perspective

Market research on recycled PET for foaming

Recycled PET for tableware technology breakthrough

Recycled PET for unsaturated polyester