China’s announcement on July 18 that it will ban imports of plastic scrap from and other recyclable materials from foreign garbage by the end of the year was met with swift criticism from global recycling groups, who described the move as “devastating.” and “catastrophic”.
The Scrap Metal Recycling Industries Institute in Washington and the International Recycling Office in Brussels expressed alarm, with ISRI noting that China is the largest market for recycling exports from the United States.
But others in the industry saw positive potentials.
“I see it as an opportunity to strengthen the national industry,” said Steve Alexander, president and CEO of the Association of Plastic Recyclers. “We could withdraw from the volatility of the Chinese market.”
Chinese officials painted the decision, which was rumored for weeks, as needed to protect their environment and public health.
“We found that large amounts of dirty waste or even hazardous waste are mixed into solid waste that can be used as raw materials,” said China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection. “This seriously polluted the environment.
“To protect the environmental interests of China and the health of the people, we urgently adjust the list of imported solid waste and ban the import of solid waste that is highly polluted,” he said.
China formally informed the World Trade Organization of the ban on July 18 and said it would cover 24 types of recyclable plastic, paper and metal materials, specifically including PET, PVC, polyethylene and polystyrene and a general category of other scrap polymers. .
Some global groups in the recycling industry were critical.
“While BIR and its members support and promote high quality standards for scrap exports, this ban, if implemented, will have a serious impact on the global recycling industry,” said Arnaud Brunet, CEO of BIR. “International scrap flows to China amounted to tens of billions of US dollars in goods that the Chinese domestic industry needs for production.”
China in 2016 imported 16 billion pounds of recycled plastic from all other countries, BIR said. That included about 5.5 billion pounds each of polyethylene and PET, with about half of the global trade in recycled PE going to China, according to Tarrytown, N.Y. data-driven consulting and international Trader Publications Inc.
North American exports were generally smaller than other regions.
Western Europe and other Asian Pacific countries shipped about 2.2 billion pounds of recycled PE to China, while the United States and Canada together shipped about 793 million pounds, ITP said.
And in PET, about 4.2 billion pounds of Chinese imports came from other Asia-Pacific economies in 2016, with North America supplying just under 440 million pounds, ITP said.
APR’s Steve Alexander, who said the ban could create opportunities for American waste pickers, acknowledged that he may be viewing the situation through “pink glasses.” However, he noted that US exports of recycled plastic bottles have declined in recent years.
In 2008, more than 40% of plastic bottles collected in the United States were exported, but that number steadily dropped to 21% in 2015, according to APR data.
Some of the drops have been linked to China. Recycled PET exports fell from 34% of PET bottles collected in 2012 to 23% the next year, for example, when an earlier crackdown on recyclables in China, Green Fence, began, according to APR.
Keeping more recycling in the United States could help convince brand owners to use more recycled plastic content, as they sometimes say supply availability is a concern, Alexander said. And he added that recycling in countries where material is collected reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
However, he worries that this comes at a time when some waste haulers are cutting back on collecting plastics for recycling, over concerns about the strength of markets.
ISRIWeiner
Washington-based ISRI was one of the groups that expressed serious concerns.
“A ban on imports of scrap metal products into China would be catastrophic for the recycling industry,” ISRI President Robin Weiner said in a statement. “A ban will result in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and the closure of many recycling companies in the United States.”
ISRI reported that it immediately notified the United States government, including the United States Trade Representative and the United States Department of Commerce, of its objections and reported them prior to high-level talks held on July 19 in Washington between the two countries.
For its part, BIR said it planned to engage with the Chinese government to discuss what it sees as the negative economic and environmental impacts of a ban.
BIR also said it sent a letter on July 20 to the WTO, complaining about the “extremely short” July 20 deadline that the Chinese government set for comment on its ban. BIR has requested an extension to the 60-day rule.
“The BIR calls on the Chinese government to reconsider its ban policies and offer to continue discussing ways to ensure high quality standards without adversely affecting the global recycling industry and the Chinese economy,” the association said.
China’s ban comes as environmental protection and customs officials in the country continued their national sword campaign, announcing that they would carry out intensive inspections of plastic facilities in July.
The China China Scrap Plastics Association said 888 factories had been inspected by July 14, about half of the country’s 1,792 factories licensed to import scrap plastics.
CSPA said Chinese media was reporting that 590 factories were found in violation of the rules, with 349 investigated for those violations.
He said 383 factories had their production suspended and 53 were closed, and that factories with violations could have their import permits suspended for a year.
