In July of 2026, the National Development and Reform Commission of China (NDRC) issued official analysis of the 15th Five-Year Plan for Circular Economy Development (hereinafter referred to as “the Plan”), outlining strategic direction, key targets, and priority actions for the 2026–2030 period and a longer-term vision for 2035. Relevant officials also received an interview and publicized the full text to further explain the key points of the document

China’s circular economy has already made substantial progress in the past few years. The resource recycling industry reached RMB 5 trillion in output value in 2025, and major resource productivity rose roughly 77 percent from 2012 levels. The new five-year period, however, brings more demanding resource security and carbon peaking goals, while persistent bottlenecks in collection channels, technology, and industrial structure remain. With global resource competition intensifying and circularity emerging as a shared international priority, the Plan, grounded in the Ecological and Environmental Code of China, the Circular Economy Promotion Law, and related central policies, seeks to systematically address these challenges and support high-quality development.

To that end, the Plan sets a two-phase goal:

-   By 2030, major resource productivity will increase about 16 percent from the 2025 level; comprehensive utilization of bulk solid waste will reach about 4.5 billion tons per year; annual recycling of major renewable resources will total 510 million tons; the resource recycling industry’s output value will rise to RMB 8 trillion.

-   By 2035, the Plan envisions a well-functioning, high-quality circular economy system, with resource efficiency reaching internationally advanced levels.

Priority actions follow the core principles of reduction, recovery, and reuse. The Plan reinforces source reduction through green design, cleaner production, and sustainable consumption; accelerates resource recovery across industrial, agricultural, and forestry sectors; and scales up reuse and remanufacturing. To address value-chain bottlenecks, it also prioritizes improving collection networks for waste materials and upgrading the recycling industry to strengthen overall competitiveness.

On the institutional and policy front, the Plan includes a comprehensive set of safeguards:

-   Legal and regulatory measures: revise the Circular Economy Promotion Law; accelerate amendments to key sector-specific regulations; deepen the extended producer responsibility system; and encourage local governments to provide additional institutional support for circular development.

-   Standards and certification: establish a circular economy standardization TC; issue guidelines for a circular economy standards system; develop a full-chain standards framework; strengthen oversight of standards implementation; support including circular economy activities in carbon markets and carbon inclusion schemes; promote mutual recognition with international standards and certification; and strengthen public service capacity for inspection and testing.

-   Fiscal and financial support: support eligible resource recycling projects; increase investment and financing for circular economy activities; implement preferential tax policies and the “reverse invoicing” system for resource utilization; promote fee-based treatment of bulk solid waste and construction waste; regulate exports of renewable resource products; and study including recycled-material products in government and public-procurement green purchasing.

The original full text of the Plan has not yet publicized up to the date of this article. However, foreign stakeholders are advised to be aware that these measures are intended to provide stronger institutional and policy underpinnings for the overall national goals on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and intends to help ensure its objectives are realized over the coming decade. Further specific plans and requirements, together with corresponding standard changes (revision or formulation) may take place in this period, that may directly initiate impacts on certain stakeholders.