Page 27 - Plastics News July 2017

FEATURES

China to ban foreign garbage by year-end

Chinese government says the action is to protect public health and the environment.

hina told the World Trade Organization July 18 that it legitimate exporters, with some reports describing customs
Cwill ban imports of scrap plastics and other “foreign examinations of every container going through certain
garbage” by the end of the year, officially taking a step ports. In some cases newer technology like X-ray equipment
that had been widely rumored in the industry. is allowing for smoother border checks than in previous
enforcement campaigns, such as 2013’s Green Fence.Customs
The move drew quick criticism from a recycling industry trade
group in the United States, the Institute of Scrap Recycling agents are reportedly inspecting paper bales for moisture
and contamination.
Industries, which said it would be “devastating” to the global
recycling industry and cost thousands of U.S. jobs. Moreover Washington-based ISRI said the move could cause

ISRI said the ban would include most
scrap plastics, including PET, PVC,
polyethylene and polystyrene, as well
as mixed papers and slag.
China’s government said it was taking
the action to protect public health and
the environment. “We found that large
amounts of dirty wastes or even hazardous
wastes are mixed in the solid waste that
can be used as raw materials,” China’s
Ministry of Environmental Protection said
in a notification to WTO. “This polluted
the environment seriously.”

“To protect China’s environmental
interests and people’s health, we
urgently adjust the imported solid waste
list, and forbid the import of solid wastes that are highly severe economic harm in the United States. “If implemented,
polluted,” it said. a ban on scrap imports will result in the loss of tens of
thousands of jobs and closure of many recycling businesses
As a matter of fact , if one remembers, Chinese General
throughout the United States,” ISRI President Robin Weiner
Administration of Customs had announced the new
said in a statement.
campaign, called “National Sword 2017,earlier in February
saying that it would target “industrial waste, electronic ISRI immediately relayed its concerns to the U.S. Trade
scrap and plastics” as well as “gangs and well-organised Representative and the U.S. Department of Commerce,
operations acting illegally.” The campaign is being framed as and briefed U.S. officials ahead of the July 19 U.S.-China
a crackdown on smuggling and contaminated scrap imports, Comprehensive Economic Dialogue in Washington.
and has led to arrests and confiscated scrap materials. The The association said one-third of the scrap recycled in the
customs crackdown has also increased shipment times for United States is exported, with China being the largest

27 July 2017 | Plastics News