In December 2024, the Global Plastic Treaty delegates kicked the plastic bottle down the road, delaying a final agreement to rein in the plastic pollution plaguing the planet. Recycling has failed to solve the problem, with most single-use plastic waste ending up in landfills (50%), incinerators (19%) or leaked into the environment (22%). Ultimately, the world needs to produce significantly less single use plastics and more reusable packaging. There is also a need to create better technologies and policies to push companies to transform plastics into new products. 

In China, the government’s efforts to create legislation for extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems are driving a new generation of tech startups to tackle plastic waste via upcycling and develop environmental impact monitoring systems. However, profitability remains a challenge due to high upfront costs and technical hurdles. BOTTLOOP, founded by Liu Xuesong, stands out as a startup that may have found the solution to drive a plastic reuse revolution in China. Expanding current circular economy pilots and policies could support recycling and reuse companies like BOTTLOOP. 

BOTTLOOP’s Innovative Tech and Transparency 

After her son developed a pollution-related respiratory illness in 2010, Liu Xuesong left her 15-year career at a Japanese lifestyle brand to address environmental challenges. From 2010 to 2014, she visited over 100 landfills, identifying critical gaps in China’s recycling industry: unstable incomes for waste pickers, a lack of young talent, inefficient recycling methods, and severe pollution from improper waste disposal. To tackle these issues, Liu founded BOTTLOOP in 2019, combining innovative technologies that transform plastic waste into fashionable, low-carbon products. She also built 300 partnerships across governments, NGOs, and businesses to elevate industry standards and monitoring.

BOTTLOOP uses blockchain to monitor the entire lifecycle of transforming plastic bottle waste into fashionable eco-friendly products. Using advanced sorting, cleaning, and separation technologies, BOTTLOOP processes materials like polypropylene, polyethylene, and fishing nets into high-quality recycled polyester granules. For PET plastic bottles, BOTTLOOP adopted a 12-step regeneration process—including multi-stage cleaning, purification, and fiber production—to convert them into eco-friendly fabrics for sustainable clothing and bags. Its blockchain traceability system tracks the carbon footprint of plastic bottles, offering low-carbon solutions to corporate clients. By December 2024, the company had recycled over 27 million plastic bottles, reducing carbon emissions by 2,496 tons.

Turning Plastic Recycling into a Sustainable Business 

Currently, BOTTLOOP has become an influential eco-brand in China. By offering ESG-compliant services to corporate clients, BOTTLOOP supports major corporations in advancing their ESG practices and contributes to sustainable development. 

Since 2020, BOTTLOOP has partnered with CITIC Asset Operations to develop a “Zero Waste Office Building” model at CITIC Tower. This initiative includes waste management, recycling, eco-friendly product co-creation, and employee education, forming a closed-loop system. By December 2023, CITIC Tower recycled 32,047 kg of plastic, 206,984 kg of paper, and 2,414 kg of metal, achieving a carbon reduction equivalent to planting 31,290 trees. The innovative Zero Waste Recycling Program also benefits employees by converting recyclables into points redeemable for BOTTLOOP services, fostering resource recycling and enhancing office sustainability.

BOTTLOOP’s consumer-facing business targets young people by combining sustainable design with a circular economy approach. Collaborating with major brands, BOTTLOOP creates co-branded collections and holiday gift boxes, reducing raw material demand and inventory pressure. BOTTLOOP also partners with traditional artisans to create sustainable cultural products, such as “Shadow-woven bags,” which use traditional Gong fan weaving made from apple leather and origami-style “Folding bags,” using recycled fishing nets.

It Takes a Village

BOTTLOOP bridges Chinese social networks with global sustainability campaigns, driving cross-border collaboration to tackle environmental challenges. Founder Liu Xuesong champions sustainable fashion at events like T Magazine’s Global Style Forum, mobilizing businesses, designers, and consumers toward green practices. 

Internationally, BOTTLOOP partnered with the UNEP, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the All-China Environment Federation to co-organize the “Beat Plastic Pollution” campaign, advocating for global collective action. As a catalyst for interdisciplinary dialogue, BOTTLOOP co-hosted forums like “Green Design, Towards a Better Future” at the 751 International Design Festival, uniting leaders from architecture, finance, and consumer industries to reimagine eco-conscious innovation. By integrating traditional cultural values, advanced technologies, and ecological aesthetics, BOTTLOOP bridges China’s expertise with global sustainability efforts, proving that waste can drive both environmental innovation and inclusive economic growth.

Growing Pains 

In the global transition to a circular economy, companies like BOTTLOOP that are working to create a recycling solution to clothing waste. Yet they are facing the dilemma of high costs and low premiums. While China reached its 30% 2022 plastic recycling target, the country’s circular economy industry only recycles 16.3%  of low-value plastics, high costs, and infrastructure limitations for chemical recycling. China’s latest “14th Five-Year Plan” targets a resource recycling industry output of over 5 trillion yuan by 2025, with a three-tier recycling network in 60 pilot cities, positioning circular economy infrastructure as a key production factor. 

Implementation of circular economy policies and targets still suffer from poor coordination between the recycling and packaging manufacturing industries, lack of fiscal incentives, and weak regulatory mechanisms. Thus, despite the call for circularity, companies often overlook recyclability as they design products or packaging. 

To help China overcome these internal challenges, BOTTLOOP participates in emerging public-private China’s plastic circular economy partnerships that are pushing a multipronged approach to promote:

• Policy efforts that optimize fiscal support and strengthen the EPR system to drive recycling innovation.  
• Investments in technology innovation to overcome low-value plastic recycling challenges and advancing chemical recycling and molecular sorting.  
• Market strategies that emphasize consumer participation and industrial ecosystem development. 
•  International efforts targeting regional standard-setting and global governance cooperation around plastics and recycling.  

If government policy and investments help building intelligent recycling networks that align with global rules, China can empower companies like BOTTLOOP create a sustainable and economically viable plastic recycling model.