In July last year, the Chinese government announced that in order to solve the problem of domestic pollution, it began to ban the import of 24 'foreign garbage' from abroad in January 2018. At the meeting of the World Trade Organization Committee on Trade and Trade held in Geneva on the 23rd of this month, The U.S. representative asked China to cancel the ban.
'We demand that China immediately stop implementing and amending these measures to comply with the global standards for existing waste trade. This provides a global framework for transparent, environmentally friendly trade in commodities... China's import restrictions on recyclable goods have led to a global waste supply chain. Fundamentally interrupted, they could not be effectively reused and abandoned. ' A participating trade official quoted the U.S. representative as saying.
About two-thirds of waste products in the United States are currently disposed of in its territory, and the remaining one third are exported to 150 countries worldwide. Of these, China is the largest waste exporter in the United States, accounting for approximately 40% of the total. Therefore, China's 'foreign garbage' import ban has caught US garbage exporters off guard.
Many states on the West Coast of the United States have faced the problem of dumping since January this year. An Oregon scrapper said in an interview with the New York Times at the end of January this year that since the beginning of the year, his inventory has been 'out of control'.
Adina Adler, the senior director of the American Recycling Industry Association (ISRI), said in an interview with 21st Century Business Herald reporter in January that the standards promulgated by China are unprecedented and it is necessary to adapt to this change in half a year's time. For American companies, it is almost impossible to achieve.
Most of the renewable resources in the world come from developed countries and regions. The countries importing recycled waste are mainly developing countries. Among them, China’s imports rank first in the world and it is the world’s largest importer of waste. 2016, China Dealed with at least half of the world's scrap metal, waste plastics and waste paper, most of which came from Europe, the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, China, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and other developed countries and regions.
In the 1980s, the development of manufacturing made China's demand for raw materials such as plastics and metals greatly increased. On the other hand, due to high environmental standards and high labor costs, developed countries also needed to export their domestic waste. China had a large amount of Cheap labor, which makes the classification of scrap metal, waste plastics, waste paper, etc. than the cost of re-manufacturing such raw materials is low. Therefore, China has become the main export market for waste materials from developed countries such as the United States since the 1980s.
Before 2008, China was in urgent need of raw materials...they needed to be used in manufacturing, infrastructure, and housing construction. They really needed it... Suddenly, there was such a huge demand for things that were very difficult to recycle in the United States and elsewhere. 'America's author Adam Minter, who travels in the billions of dollars in trash trade, said in an interview with the Huffington Post last year.
The 21st Century Business Herald article stated that after the “foreign garbage” ban was issued, US companies intend to transfer scrap to other countries in the short term. At the same time, they are also planning to raise funds to start various projects for long-term planning.
Southeast Asia has become the preferred area for US exports after the Chinese ban. However, these countries do not seem to be ready yet. The Vietnam Society of Nature and Environmental Protection last year told local media that 15 licensed industrial workshops in Vietnam handled e-waste. The total can only handle 0.5 to 3 tons per day, which is far below the production volume.
Therefore, in the long run, the United States still needs to improve its waste recycling capacity. Du Huanzheng, deputy director of the China Center for Circular Economy and Environmental Assessment and Forecast Research at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that many Chinese companies and even US companies are now setting up waste processing plants in the United States. As the waste disposal system is rebuilt in the United States, the United States will gradually increase its ability to recover waste.
'But this is expected to take 3 to 5 years. In addition to rebuilding the waste disposal infrastructure, its policy system has to be reconstructed. Policy support for waste disposal should also be readjusted,' he said.
In addition, in the United States, government and private organizations are also starting to raise funds to launch various projects to promote the reduction of plastics utilization.
Michael Gove, the British Minister of the Environment, said that in addition to taxation, an automatic recycling machine will be set up. Putting plastic bottles, glass bottles, and metal bottles will be able to recover 22 pence tax. The report also stated that the British government intends to legislate to require retail companies to purchase Thousands of recycling machines, establishing a recycling network.
Gough said that in the UK, millions of plastic bottles are not recovered every day, which threatens the oceans. Therefore, after the authorities banned plastic microbeads and imposed 'plastic bag tax', they considered taxing bottled drinks. The public consultation of the plan will be held this year. Initially, the feasibility of the plan will be discussed in detail, other measures to increase the recovery rate will be studied, and opinions of manufacturers, suppliers and consumers will be collected.
Recycling machines provide financial incentives through cash rebates, leading consumers to recycle plastic bottles. Europe has successfully set a precedent. After setting up a recycling machine in Germany in 2003, the recycling rate of plastic bottles rose to 95%.