PLASTICS RECYCLING CHINA
Severely restricted imports of plastics waste by end of 2017 / Official notification to the WTO
What had been circulating as a rumour in the global waste market for some time has now been confirmed. On 18 July 2017, the Chinese government informed the World Trade Organization (WTO; www.wto.org) that it is banning imports of certain types of solid waste into China at the end of the year – see Plasteurope.com of 17.07.2017. This includes not only household paper and textile waste, but also plastics waste. On the list are PE, styrenics, PVC, PET and aluminium/plastic composites, that is, metallised films or composite boards. The term "other plastics" that is also listed leaves a great deal of scope.
The ban is to be monitored by the country's Ministry of Environmental Protection. Neither the "Green Fence" policy introduced a few years ago to improve the quality of imported waste nor the "National Sword" initiative announced at the start of this year, involving stricter checks on environmental regulations in the recycling sector, have been successful in improving the situation in China's recycling industry. Not only are environmental standards continually being undermined, waste smuggling is also said to be going on.
The news has prompted very mixed reactions in the international waste and recycling industries. If China does manage to reduce its imports of used plastics and other waste, this will likely cause the breakdown of a number of structures in the global waste business, and notable sections of the industry will be faced with major challenges.
In June, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (Isri, Washington, D.C. / USA; www.isri.org) expressed great concern about potential import bans. As the "voice of the recycling industry," Isri suspects that the Chinese government's actions have not been prompted by environmental issues but rather by protectionism. China wants to increase the percentage of recycling its own waste. While the word "unfair" does not feature in the statement, it could certainly be used here. And no wonder – the US exports one-third of its waste, according to Isri, with the majority of this going to China.
e-Service:
China's "WTO Notification" (July 2017) as a PDF file
The ban is to be monitored by the country's Ministry of Environmental Protection. Neither the "Green Fence" policy introduced a few years ago to improve the quality of imported waste nor the "National Sword" initiative announced at the start of this year, involving stricter checks on environmental regulations in the recycling sector, have been successful in improving the situation in China's recycling industry. Not only are environmental standards continually being undermined, waste smuggling is also said to be going on.
The news has prompted very mixed reactions in the international waste and recycling industries. If China does manage to reduce its imports of used plastics and other waste, this will likely cause the breakdown of a number of structures in the global waste business, and notable sections of the industry will be faced with major challenges.
In June, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (Isri, Washington, D.C. / USA; www.isri.org) expressed great concern about potential import bans. As the "voice of the recycling industry," Isri suspects that the Chinese government's actions have not been prompted by environmental issues but rather by protectionism. China wants to increase the percentage of recycling its own waste. While the word "unfair" does not feature in the statement, it could certainly be used here. And no wonder – the US exports one-third of its waste, according to Isri, with the majority of this going to China.
e-Service:
China's "WTO Notification" (July 2017) as a PDF file
26.07.2017 Plasteurope.com 984 [237432-0]
Published on 26.07.2017
German version of this article...