| The big environmental stories in the Chinese media this week (3-9 July) |
On 30 June, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) announced that from 2021 it will no longer accept applications for importing solid waste. This means China will ban solid waste import entirely, concluding its phased ban of “foreign trash” that started in July 2017.
The 2017 State Council plan to ban solid waste imports was published amid strong public objection to the long-time practice. The door for importing highly hazardous solid waste was shut at the end of 2017, and wastes that “can be substituted by domestic resources” were no longer allowed to enter China at the end of 2019. But it fell short of saying when imports would be banned entirely.
The MEE spokesperson told reporters that the variety and quantity of imported solid waste has been declining steadily and dramatically ever since, according to People’s Daily Online. Between January and May this year the country-wide import stands at 3.226 million tonnes, which is equivalent to 45.3% of the same period last year.
The newly revised Solid Waste Law, which will come into effect on 1 September, provides the legal framework for the phased ban. It prescribes a hefty fine, of between half a million and 5 million yuan for importing solid waste, and stipulates the import be returned to its origin – the shipper and importer bearing joint responsibility.
China started importing solid waste in the 1980s to make up for a shortage of industrial raw materials, and this later became a predominant way for many Western countries to dispose of their solid wastes. China’s phased ban has created devastating” pressure for these countries to recycle by themselves and to reduce the creation of solid wastes to avoid overwhelming their incinerators and landfills.
It has also created an existential crisis for China’s domestic recycling industry, which has been reliant on foreign inputs. The compulsory waste-sorting policy first introduced in Shanghai a year ago, and being gradually adopted across the country, is expected to eventually make up for the shortage created by the ban.
Read about China’s complicated relationship with foreign solid waste on China Dialogue here.
The 2017 State Council plan to ban solid waste imports was published amid strong public objection to the long-time practice. The door for importing highly hazardous solid waste was shut at the end of 2017, and wastes that “can be substituted by domestic resources” were no longer allowed to enter China at the end of 2019. But it fell short of saying when imports would be banned entirely.
The MEE spokesperson told reporters that the variety and quantity of imported solid waste has been declining steadily and dramatically ever since, according to People’s Daily Online. Between January and May this year the country-wide import stands at 3.226 million tonnes, which is equivalent to 45.3% of the same period last year.
The newly revised Solid Waste Law, which will come into effect on 1 September, provides the legal framework for the phased ban. It prescribes a hefty fine, of between half a million and 5 million yuan for importing solid waste, and stipulates the import be returned to its origin – the shipper and importer bearing joint responsibility.
China started importing solid waste in the 1980s to make up for a shortage of industrial raw materials, and this later became a predominant way for many Western countries to dispose of their solid wastes. China’s phased ban has created devastating” pressure for these countries to recycle by themselves and to reduce the creation of solid wastes to avoid overwhelming their incinerators and landfills.
It has also created an existential crisis for China’s domestic recycling industry, which has been reliant on foreign inputs. The compulsory waste-sorting policy first introduced in Shanghai a year ago, and being gradually adopted across the country, is expected to eventually make up for the shortage created by the ban.
Read about China’s complicated relationship with foreign solid waste on China Dialogue here.
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