A recycling factory in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. The owner, third from right, and employees pose in front of a mountain of bottles, October 14, 2014. [Photo/CFP]

Discarded plastic bottles still have value.

Mineral water bottles are the most common beverage bottles. A mineral water bottle is composed of bottle cap, bottle body and labels. The recycling factories mainly recycle and utilize the body of the bottle. The body of a bottle is made of PET material, which is an important material in producing chemical fiber products. The bottle will be processed by mark shedding, breaking and cleaning, then the pieces of PET will be sold to chemical fiber factories. These chemical fiber factories are mainly located in Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

Most of these recycling factories are family factories. To set up such factories, an investment of at least 200,000 yuan ($31,000) is needed. Although the investment carries risks, the industry's future is looking well.

The PET bottles can sell for 6,000 yuan ($938) per ton. A soft drink bottle can be recycled for 3 to 3.4 yuan ($0.46 to $0.53) per kilogram. One yuan can buy more than 30 450ml soft drink bottles.