Taizhou, Zhejiang, looking at the changes in the plastics industry from one city

The local official media made a high-profile statement and won the front-page headlines of the "Taizhou Evening News" and the Plastic Man's circle of friends.

▲ On July 4th, the local media in Taizhou "speaks out" to Shanghai

Taizhou made a high-profile speech, where does the courage come from?

"Contracting" Shanghai's garbage bins suddenly became Taizhou's highlight moment

Prior to this, this prefecture-level city with 50 listed companies such as Supor and Geely Automobile had been They are all low-key existences.

How low-key is Taizhou? Although 7 out of 10 plastic daily necessities in the country come from here, and it is the well-deserved "Kingdom of Plastic Products", most people from all over the world who go to Yiwu to wholesale small commodities have no idea that the plastic daily necessities they buy come from a place called Taizhou. .

In addition to daily necessities, Taizhou’s plastic products and mold manufacturing industry has extended its reach to almost every aspect of life. Whether it is the cutlery and straws of McDonald's and KFC, the bumpers of Mercedes-Benz, the glove boxes of BMW, and even the plastic parts of high-speed trains and airplanes, they all have the stamp of being made in Taizhou.

The data is the most convincing:

"There are more than 10,000 plastic production companies, more than 250,000 employees, an annual output value of tens of billions, and an annual consumption of 5 million plastic raw materials. tons, accounting for one-tenth of the country's production of disposable syringes, infusion sets, daily plastic products and other products, ranking first in the country in market share. On the shelves of domestic supermarkets, 8 out of 10 plastic water cups are "Made in Taizhou" 90% of the country’s electric vehicle plastic parts are made in Taizhou, accounting for more than 80% of the country’s extrusion molds, more than 40% of the country’s blow molds, and 1/3 of the country’s injection molds.”

From raw materials to design, molds , processing, and sales, Taizhou's plastic products industry chain is complete and flawless, and even the R&D and production of specialized equipment for plastic product production lines are available.

▲ The scale of Taizhou’s molding industry

It is precisely with such a complete industrial chain and huge production capacity that Taizhou’s plastic product manufacturers have the confidence to shout “Shanghai holds on, We'll cover your trash cans."

Taizhou companies work in three shifts to make trash cans?

With the implementation of garbage classification in Shanghai and other places, the demand for classified trash cans has exploded. Data from June this year show that sales of trash cans on Taobao alone reached 3 million, which is equivalent to one piece sold every second. For every 10 plastic sorting bins sold, 7 are from Taizhou companies.

"We have received many orders from Shanghai since February this year." Ms. Ying, the person in charge of Hangxing Plastic Mold Factory, said that more than 100 workers in the factory work "three shifts" and the production line is 24 hours a day. Work. "Originally, our factory had one day off every week, but now the workers have not had a day off for several months and work overtime every day."

Luo Wujun, a salesperson at Jiuyuan Plastic Industry, said: "It took ten years to make trash cans. This year’s business is the best in the past few years!”

▲ Taizhou Huangyan Plastic Products Company is working overtime to produce classified trash cans

?“This batch of orders will be sent out this afternoon, everyone. Speed ??up." In the past few days, Taizhou Huangyan Feida Sanhe Plastic Products Co., Ltd. has been brightly lit, the production line has been spitting out finished product trash cans one after another, and workers have been busy coming and going.

▲ Taizhou Huangyan Plastic Products Company’s classified trash cans are loaded and shipped

“There is no stock in the warehouse for a long time. We work overtime every day to make it and the supply exceeds the demand. Customers are in a hurry. We "I feel even more anxious." Tang Chuanyu, executive deputy general manager of Taizhou Luqiao Hangxing Plastic Mold Factory, said frankly that orders for classified trash bins from Shanghai have surged since February. Workers rush to produce in "three shifts", and customers often wait here until 12 o'clock in the middle of the night in order to get the goods as soon as possible.

Super Typhoon "Lekima" hit the city, and Taizhou was completely shut down.

After ten years of making plastic barrels, this year is the best business. Many practitioners in Taizhou lamented this.

Just as Taizhou was preparing for large-scale material input and production lines to fully exert their power, Taizhou encountered the super typhoon "Likima" that exceeded three historical extremes, causing Taizhou direct economic losses of 25.128 billion, many The plastics factory has stopped production, and if the machinery has been seriously damaged, it will not be able to resume operations until October.

▲ A corner of Taizhou Huangyan after the typhoon passed through

Man-made disasters can be prevented, but natural disasters are inevitable!

How to quickly resume production after the tragedy of Lekima? Many practitioners have also begun to think about the future of Taizhou plastic companies after this wave of enthusiasm?

The answer may still be in the plastic trash can.

The infinite possibilities brought by a trash can

? "Rake" cultural and creative dividends

The annual Taobao Creation Festival is jointly launched with the China Academy of Art. Designed Hangzhou classified trash cans to use art to assist garbage classification work.

Many bosses sensed the business opportunity of "taking" cultural and creative dividends, and began to make small improvements in product appearance and functions, and cooperated with colleges and universities and design institutions to have their own patents and independent Intellectual property rights make their products popular in mainstream foreign markets. They have put specially designed "coats" on their trash cans. The cost of these "cultured" trash cans has increased by 20 to 30 yuan, but the price has increased by 100 yuan.

Smart plastic trash can

Many people have already thought of plastic trash cans 2.0 and smart plastic trash cans. The garbage put into the bucket will first pass through the "identification layer", and the identification layer will Like a giant photo studio, sensors in it will automatically identify and classify more than 3,000 types of garbage. Different types of waste will then be swallowed into different spaces in the "storage layer".

The above is a project being studied by Microsoft Suzhou Research Institute, and it is also the future development trend of plastic trash cans. AI systems will replace manual garbage classification. If plastic companies can seize this opportunity before the system is implemented, Providing high-quality material solutions will greatly increase the added value of products.

In order to get rid of low-end competition, some local companies in Taizhou are actively exploring high-end products and producing intelligent products. Zhou Jianhua, the founder of Taizhou Huaping Daily Products Co., Ltd., started producing plastic daily necessities fifteen years ago. At the beginning of his business, Zhou Jianhua made clear the development direction of the company: skipping low-end products and directly targeting mid-to-high-end production lines. The company's current flagship smart trash can is based on its smart sensing function, which can open the lid in 0.3 seconds. With this wave of garbage bin sales craze, the orders Zhou Jianhua receives every day have also increased. The monthly production volume has reached 3,000, and nearly 80% of the products are sold to Shanghai.

Postscript

Policy guidance continues to ferment, leveraging the scale of the waste classification industry worth hundreds of billions. But at the same time, the swarming of companies and homogeneous competition in the industry have also caused market concerns. Tianyancha data shows that since July last year, Zhejiang has added more than 290 companies related to garbage classification, many of which are companies that produce, install, and sell plastic trash cans and plastic bins. On the one hand, the entire industry is hot, and on the other hand, a considerable number of new companies continue to pour in. If things go on like this, it will lead to disorderly competition in the market.

With the rise of more urban waste classification, the sinking market in the plastic trash can segment will gradually open up. I believe that Taizhou, Zhejiang will, due to its complete industrial chain and cutting-edge technical solutions, Leading the national plastic trash can market segment.