Waste to Wealth: China's Lead Giant Goes Green

Wan Tingting, a master's degree holder in art, now leads in recycling expertise at Yuguang Gold & Lead in Henan province. The company, a global nonferrous metal conglomerate, specializes in resource recovery, transforming waste into building materials.

Yuguang has become a world leader in regenerative lead development, treating 540,000 metric tons of renewable lead annually. It established China's first waste lead-acid battery recycling network in 2015, creating a closed-loop system.

The Regenerated Lead Plant's intelligent system processes 540,000 tons of waste batteries yearly, yielding regenerated lead and alloys. Yuguang champions green smelting, with its factories now resembling gardens and its closed production lines embodying circular economy principles.

With a processing capacity exceeding 1 million tons of waste batteries annually, Yuguang consumes approximately 17 percent of China's total. The company also produces and exports recycling equipment to countries like Belarus and Kazakhstan, supporting global green initiatives.

Yuguang is now China's largest production base for recycled lead, lead-zinc smelting, and silver production. The company's commitment to technological innovation has led to the creation of the nonferrous metal sector's first "excellent intelligent factory."