China clarifies plastic waste import ban

Archiv – The Chinese government has clarified that a plastic waste import ban will be restricted to used agricultural film and to plastic bags, films and net collected from households or municipal waste. As a result, European and US waste plastic traders can heave a sigh of relief, according to Surendra Borad, Managing Director of Belgium-based Gemini Corporation NV and Chairman of the Bureau of International Recycling’s Plastics Committee.China | The Chinese government has clarified that a plastic waste import ban will be restricted to used agricultural film and to plastic bags, films and net collected from households or municipal waste. As a result, European and US waste plastic traders can heave a sigh of relief, according to Surendra Borad, Managing Director of Belgium-based Gemini Corporation NV and Chairman of the Bureau of International Recycling’s Plastics Committee.
China’s SEPA environment ministry added plastic waste to the list of goods which are banned for import via regulations introduced on March 1. SEPA states in a note to BIR: ’We believe the new lists will affect very slightly waste transboundary movement.’ According to the ministry, all waste shipments with existing SEPA licences will be accepted without problem so long as they meet environmental standards implemented in China three years ago.
In related news, China’s largest producer of plastic bags, Huaqiang of Henan province, is understood to have closed down shortly after the government announced in January a high-profile ban on stores handing out free bags. The factory, which belongs to Guangzhou-based Nanqiang Plastic Industrial Ltd, was capable of producing 250 000 tonnes of plastic bags each year worth more than US$ 300 million.
The ban comes into effect on June 1 – two months before Beijing hosts the Olympic Games – and is designed to eliminate the flimsiest carriers and force stores to change to more durable bags.