China Is Officially Enacting a Plastic Waste Import Ban

https://futurism.com/china-is-enacting-a-plastic-waste-import-ban/

PLASTIC WASTE

Starting in January, China’s government is enacting a plastic waste import ban, in an attempt to cut down on millions of tons of plastic and other recyclables they receive every year. This change may drastically affect how the world recycles and disposes of waste.

The Guardian reports that, according to an analysis of customs data by Greenpeace, British companies alone have imported over 2.7 million tons of plastic waste to China and Hong Kong since 2012. According to IndustryWeek, China accepted 51 percent of global plastic scrap imports in 2016. The biggest chunk of that trash came from the US, where the majority of “recycled” plastics are actually shipped abroad to then be recycled; as such, trash has actually become one of the US’s biggest exports. Europe, Hong Kong, Japan and Southeast Asia ship their recyclables to China as well. All of this trash has historically been used to fuel China’s manufacturing industry.

China’s plastic waste import ban could lead to certain types of plastic no longer being collected, and it has the potential to increase environmental pollution. Quartz reports that this is already happening elsewhere: due to a Chinese ban on certain plastics enacted in 2013, Oregon recycling centers have stopped accepted the plastic “clamshells” that hold berries, as well as hospital gowns and plastic bags; in Olympia, Washington, plastic bags are no longer accepted; and central California built a new recycling center simply to keep up with agricultural plastics that had nowhere else to go.