Page 42 - Plastics News June 2017

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

ACC criticises UN forum says China mulls anti-dumping
it is too focused on plastic bans duties on styrene monomer

he American Chemistry Council is criticizing a major imports from South Korea
TU.N. conference on the oceans for pushing bans or hina is looking at imposing anti-dumping duties
reductions in the use of some plastic products, saying it
would have liked to see more attention on broader solutions C(ADDs) on styrene monomer imports from South
to ocean pollution like improving waste management. Korea, as per Platts. The proposed ADD was a result of
The comments from Washington-based ACC came as the a recent petition filed by Chinese producers to decrease
United Nations wrapped up its first-ever conference on competition from South Korea, sources said. Market
the health of the oceans June 9 in New York.The five-day participants said despite news they were sceptical that
forum finished with a 22-point nonbinding statement from ADDs would be imposed any time soon. South Korea
the 193 member countries, including a call for "long-term is the largest exporter of styrene monomer to China,
and robust strategies to reduce the use of plastics and
microplastics, particularly plastic bags and single use shipping 1.23 million mt of styrene in 2016, or 35% of
plastics."ACC said the plastics industry is committed to China's SM imports. For comparison, China's domestic
preventing marine letter and praised the U.N. for the SM production stands at about 8.39 mln mt/year.
"tremendous work" of the conference, which ran from
June 5-9, but expressed disappointment the event did not,
in ACC's view, put more emphasis on strengthening waste Explosion rocks petrochemical
collection systems."We had hoped the outcomes would
focus more on building political and financial support for plant in Chinese province of
improved waste management, or on deploying innovative Shandong
recycling and energy recovery," said Steve Russell, vice
president of plastics for ACC."Recommendations to instead n explosion rocked a petrochemical plant in the
ban or reduce the use of specific products may give the AChinese province of Shandong on earlier this month
illusion of progress, but in fact don't help us solve the on Monday June 5, with one person killed and seven
bigger problem," he said.While the conference dealt missing, the state news agency Xinhua reported. The blast
with a wide range of ocean problems, from overfishing, happened about an hour after midnight and triggered fires
coastal acidification, sea-level rise and climate change, at the loading area of Linyi
the afternoon of the first day included sessions that delved Jinyu Petrochemical Co.
heavily into plastics. Ltd. in the Linyi Lingang
A U.N. document summarizing that session, for example, Economic Development
noted that many countries made presentations on their Zone. Six people were
efforts to reduce plastic use, including bags and other injured and the fire was
packaging, and microplastics, along with discussions being brought under
about improving waste management. In the leadup to the control. The "responsible
conference, the non-governmental organization Ocean person" at the company
Conservancy and its partners in the plastics industry
unveiled a plan to raise $10 million by 2020 for research which runs the plant had been detained, Xinhua said,
and public efforts to reduce plastic pollution in the ocean. without giving details. Deadly accidents are relatively
ACC said the plastics industry has 260 projects around the common at industrial plants in China, and anger over
world either planned or under way to reduce marine litter, lax standards has grown after three decades of swift
and it said it was offering technical expertise to the U.N. economic growth marred by incidents from mining
It said plastics provide benefits like resource savings and disasters to factory fires. Huge chemical explosions in the
preventing food waste."Solutions require the cooperation port city of Tianjin in 2015 killed more than 170 people.
of industry, civil society and other stakeholders to effect President Xi Jinping vowed after the Tianjin blasts that
meaningful change," Russell said. the authorities should learn the lessons paid for in blood.

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