As China began to ban the import of wastes such as plastic products and plastic bags from January 2018, recyclable wastes such as the United States and Japan began to be exported to South Korea. According to the “Central Daily” report, South Korea has changed from a waste plastic exporting country before. Pure importer.
According to the report of the Central Daily on April 3, South Korean imports of waste plastics amounted to 11,93 tons in January-February 2018, 3.1 times the amount of imports (3814 tons) in the same period of last year. Conversely, exports decreased sharply from 35,421 tons to 1.0,625 tons. 10,000 tons, a reduction of about 2/3. With the import volume of waste plastics larger than the export volume, South Korea became a pure importer of waste plastics.
In January 2018, after China’s measures to ban the import of waste plastics took effect, the recyclable waste that had nowhere to go, such as the United States and Japan, turned to South Korea where the control threshold was low. As a result, South Korea’s domestic waste plastics cannot be exported. Foreign imports of waste plastics surged again, making South Korea worse.