Qian Jianlong is the manager of Jiehua Holdings Co Ltd, a company that has been involved in waste processing industry for nearly four decades.
Qian said his products are usually sold to steel makers, cement plants and electrolytic aluminum makers.
"Our equipment made for steel factories collect waste particles that can be used in making cement. The particles we collect are fully recyclable," said Qian.
Qian said that more than half of the cement plants in China are using their equipment currently.
Last year alone, Qian's factory consumed around 35,000 tons of steel in production, and had an income of nearly 500 million yuan.
While leather, warp knitting and textiles in the past accounted for more than half of the city's total GDP, things are now changing.
With the rise of eco-friendly enterprises such as Wankai and Jiehua, the three traditional industries now only account for about a third of the city's annual economic output.
But restructuring has been painful.
Jiehua says it is still facing many challenges, one of which is a labor shortage.
Lack of labor
"Most local people in Haining won't just want to be a worker on assembly lines. They want to be the managers or run their own business," said Qian Yisong, chairman of Jiehua Holdings.
"In addition, many places outside Haining are also developing very fast, so many migrant workers may not come back, instead working in their hometowns."
Qian Yisong said he planned to buy more machinery to increase automation on the assembly line to compensate for the lack of labor.
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