Challenges and political solutions for steel recycling in China

• China makes insufficient use of steel recycling.
• This is due to limited domestic scrap supply and imports, economic difficulties of the steel industry, backward technology, and the weak role of original equipment manufacturers.
• The government's efforts of through tax incentives, scrap supply support, import facilitation, industry reorganization and recycling parks are limited and sometimes contradictory.
• We therefore call for a more explicit and unitary strategy for steel recycling.

The circular economy is an essential component of China's sustainable development. To promote the recycling of end-of-life products, the government has adopted various policies. Steel scrap is an important resource for steelmaking. Yet, the Chinese iron and steel industry uses less scrap to produce new steel compared to other large steelmaking countries. This article examines the reasons, why steel recycling is still relatively weak in China and what measures the government takes to improve the situation. We found that limited availability of scrap, high scrap prices, inadequate steelmaking capacities, industry fragmentation and unclear responsibilities for manufacturers are the main obstacles for steel recycling in China. The government is trying to improve steel recycling through tax incentives, import facilitation, support for supply, industry reorganization, and recycling parks, but with modest results.