A recent sudden decision by China to ban imports of waste plastics has created turmoil in waste management markets, according to Plastics Recycling Europe (PRE).

China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection is proposing to lower the threshold for contaminants in bales of material for recycling to 0.3% by the end of the year.

This, according to PRE, has disrupted European waste management systems that “have been actively supporting and helping the treatment of low-quality plastic waste in the country.”

“The market is over-supplied with low-quality plastic waste due to China’s restrictions on imports. These low-quality qualities used to be exported as a cheap end-of-life solution for poorly collected and classified waste,” said PRE president. Ton Emans.

This practice, he added, was unfair in terms of economic, social and environmental implications.

Following the Chinese decision, PRE believes that the surplus cannot be fully absorbed in the EU, as it does not meet the quality requirements of European recyclers.

“This abrupt change in market conditions demonstrates the urgency needed to implement a real and sustainable waste market in Europe,” PRE said in a September 25 statement.

The organization also called for design changes for recycling, collecting and sorting waste in order to improve quality.

PRE blamed “the lack of vision of the value chain in recent years” for the current problem of the EU of being unable to deal with these new increased quantities “overnight”.

The organization urged industry, policy makers and society to urgently “bring a common solution to the table” to improve recycling design, harmonized collection, and investment in efficient sorting centers to increase capacity. recycling of the EU.