On July 18, 2017, the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China filed a document with the World Trade Organization requesting an urgent adjustment of the list of imported solid wastes. It is proposed that by the end of 2017, imports of four types of 24 solid wastes, including waste plastics of living sources, vanadium slag, and Sorted waste paper and waste textile materials such as highly polluting solid waste.
Xinhua News Agency
Before the end of 2017, a total ban on the import of solid waste with a high level of environmental hazards and strong reactions from the masses;
Before the end of 2019, gradually stop importing solid waste that domestic resources can replace...
China's 'foreign rubbish' ban has caused widespread concern in the international community.
The piles of rubbish have caused many countries to call it 'inedible' and have even attracted unreasonable accusations from certain countries.
However, there is a reasonable voice in the world that people should be fair in their own right. The world should be grateful to China.
1, 'China is very grateful'
'China was a grateful recipient of waste plastics in the past. 'The German "Süddeutsche Zeitung" made such a comment. This is indeed the case.
At present, global waste exports are highly dependent on China. According to the UN Commodity Trade Statistics database, more than 70% of waste plastics and 37% of waste paper worldwide were exported to China in 2015. European countries and the United States are the main products of these waste products. Origin.
According to the Spanish National Newspaper, from the 1980s onwards, China was the largest importer of scrap, including waste plastics, paper, and textiles. These imported wastes mainly came from developed countries. In 2015, China imported a total of 46 million tons of waste. In 2016, the final destination of 56% of the world's waste was China.
The “Paris Competition Pictorial” website in Belgium reported that in the past, Europe recycled 2/3 of the sorted waste on the spot, and the remaining 1/3 was shipped to China. China imports 5,000 solid wastes annually. Million tons, of which only 9 million tons are plastic waste, and mainly from Europe and the United States.
The German “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported that in 2016, only 1.5 million tons of waste plastics were shipped to mainland China and Hong Kong, which account for half of Germany’s total waste plastics. In the UK, nearly 800,000 tons of plastic waste was delivered to China last year. , accounting for about 65% of the total amount of waste plastics in the UK.
The British "Guardian" pointed out that since 2012, the United Kingdom has exported 2.7 million tons of waste plastics to China, accounting for two-thirds of the UK's total plastic exports.
According to the “New York Times” report, about two-thirds of waste products in the United States are disposed of in its territory, while the remaining one-third are exported to 150 countries worldwide. Of these, China is the largest waste exporting country in the United States, accounting for approximately 40%. Shares. Some media also pointed out that of the 37 million tons of garbage exported by the United States in 2017, one third were shipped to China.
2, Forced Western environmental protection reform
China's rejection of 'foreign rubbish' forced the West to quickly take measures to deal with it. According to the “Paris Competition Pictorial” report, China’s foreign garbage ban will bring new conditions to the recycling industry, and future garbage classification will be more careful than in the past.
Some companies in developed countries have begun to increase waste separation and sorting facilities to meet China's increasingly stringent standards for the import of solid waste. US environmental policy expert Frank said that to meet China's new standards, the United States is currently using artificial intelligence. Garbage sorting.
Eric Solheim, executive director of the UN Environment Agency, stated that China's crackdown on the import of 'foreign garbage' should be a signal to rich countries to increase recycling. In fact, many countries have started to take action.
The British "Financial Times" website reported that the effect of the ban on the exporter of waste products is self-evident. The European Union responded quickly and decided to levy tax on plastic bags.
The British Parliament’s House of Representatives Environmental Monitoring Committee stated in a report that tax policies should be used to improve the UK’s recycling and reprocessing industry. According to a report in The New York Times, in response to this, Starbucks is based in London from February this year. 20 to 25 stores in the city center began to adjust their prices, selling more than 5 pence a cup, if consumers bring their own cups, buy coffee can offer 25 pence.
On January 23, the European Union announced its first plan to dispose of plastic waste. It will phase out disposable plastics. The goal is that by 2030, all plastic packaging used in the EU must be recycled.
British Prime Minister Theresa May also said in January that Britain will eliminate all avoidable plastic waste within 25 years.
The German “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported that Germany, a big country for waste collection and classification, is obviously impacted by the Chinese ban. Germany will gradually increase the recycling of plastics in the next few years. At present, 36% of plastic waste is recycled, and by 2022, this proportion Should rise to 63%. At the same time the EU is also drafting a new circular economy package plan, and will increase the recycling of waste as a goal.
3, Contribute to Global Ecological Security
'While the problem of garbage disposal cannot be solved overnight, China has taken a valuable first step after all.'
Spain’s “National News” report pointed out that a large amount of waste recycling work has a serious impact on the environment. The report described the situation of Guiyu, Guangdong: Local rivers and rivers have dark colors, local health problems, and cancer incidence. Year after year climbed.
In fact, from heavy industry, raw materials processing to the textile industry, rich countries have transferred polluting industries to poor countries. This situation does not only occur in China, but wastewater from some mills in Bangladesh has also seriously polluted rivers.
China’s ban on 'foreign waste' has opened the door for a change to this. Spain's “National” believes that China’s ban on “foreign waste” will help reduce the environmental damage caused by 'foreign waste'. It will also enhance China's recycling industry's ability to handle increasing domestic waste.
According to experts quoted by the Financial Times website in the United Kingdom, after the closure of the “foreign waste”, the recycling and disposal industry can only think back to how to establish and develop its own recycling system in China; Full disposal of domestic resources will inevitably significantly reduce the proportion and quantity of garbage entering small workshops. In the long run, the ultimate goal of the ban is undoubtedly to increase the recycling rate of domestic solid waste, and even push forward the classification of waste in the front-end to promote recycling economy. development of.
Greenpeace East Asia Division also believes that the stoppage of import of 'foreign waste' will drive the development of domestic solid waste processing and industrial development and waste separation and recycling. Take the waste plastics industry as an example, the annual import of waste plastics in China soared from 300,000 tons in 1992 to In 2016, 7.34 million tons, after the import was stopped, China’s waste plastics enterprises will face a gap of millions of tons of raw materials each year, which needs to be filled through the domestic waste classification and solid waste recycling system.