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Responding to China’s Waste Import Ban through a New, Innovative, Cooperative Mechanism Quanyin Tan,† Jinhui Li,*,† and Craig Boljkovac†
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†
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China Bureau of International Recycling (Europe), and Recycling Association and Confederation of Paper Industries from the U.K., etc. Recycling is a key link of global manufacturing supply chain, but the shifts in waste flows after the ban would result in adverse outcomes when inadequate control measures equipped for the recycling and disposal processes are in place. The ban has already had considerable impacts on the destinations of transboundary transfers. In particular, waste plastic has shown the biggest movement to other countries, especially Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and India, over the 2017. The volume of imports of waste plastics increased by 113%,4 overall, compared with 2016. Thailand recorded the highest growth, 875%, for the import of waste polyethylene.4 Issues related to imported wastes have comprised critical environmental challenges in developing countries, including China. In Guiyu, China, e-waste has caused serious problems for the local environment and public health since the 1990s, with the vast majority of e-waste being imported from abroad. It was shown that the concentration of PCDD/Fs in local atmosphere and soil was severely contaminated due to informal e-waste recycling activities.5 Processing waste plastics has also aste management is one of the key challenges the world significantly contributed to the accumulation of organic currently faces. The total global generation of wastes pollutants in this region.6 was estimated to be 7−10 billion tonnes in 20152 and is Moreover, nonrecyclable materials (including some hazardexpected to reach a new peak later this century. Because ous wastes) are often mixed into recyclable wastes before being environmentally sound management of waste in developed exported. Since the 2006, the General Administration of countries normally entails higher costs, some generators export Customs of China has conducted campaigns on combating their wastes to developing countries that have a less developed solid waste smuggling on an annual basis, such as “Green framework for waste management and the enforcement of Fence” and “Border-Gate Sword.″ Between 2013 and the first relevant laws and policies. Profits from the worldwide illegal half of 2015, Chinese Customs seized 343 waste shipments trade in waste were estimated to have reached 10−12 billion weighing 1.49 million tonnes (MT). The number of shipping USD annually in 2014.3 containers containing illegal wastes, and the overall volume of However, China’s ban on solid waste import, in July 2017, such wastes has continued to increase. From January to June rang a clarion call to eliminate the issue of imported waste. 2017 alone, some 146 containers comprising 260 000 tonnes of China’s ban came from the “Prohibition of Foreign Garbage waste have been seized. In July, 2017, the Ministry of Environmental Protection Imports: the Reform Plan on Solid Waste Import Manage(MEP) of China1 launched a month-long campaign to inspect ment.”, which was approved by China’s Central Leading Group 1792 registered firms within China that had involved in solid for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, led by Chinese waste import and processing activities in the past two years. President Xi Jinping, in April 2017. The Reform Plan put in However, it was approved a continued widespread violations of place a complete ban on the import of four classes of wastes by standards by 1074 out the 1792 inspected firms. This translates the end of 2017, including waste plastics from household into 60% of inspected firms in China (Figure 1). garbage, unsorted waste paper, waste textile materials, and Regarding the demand for waste as “raw materials” in China, vanadium slag. It also included further requirements to phase it had been declining in these years. This has, in part, helped to out the import of solid wastes that can be replaced by China’s trigger China’s latest actions to prohibit waste imports. In the domestic supply with equivalent wastes by the end of 2019. China’s ban had attracted broad attention and discussion from a wide number of countries and organizations, such as the U.S.Received: April 8, 2018 based associationInstitute of Scrap Recycling Industries, the
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© XXXX American Chemical Society
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b01852 Environ. Sci. Technol. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Viewpoint
Environmental Science & Technology
Figure 1. Distribution of firms that were proven violation by inspections in July 2017 by the MEP of China (data source: MEP of China, http:// www.mep.gov.cn).
for protecting the environment and human health from waste. However, “one size does not fit all.” The management policy on waste import should be developed based on the specific situation in resources, environment, technology, and regulation of each country. Enhancing capabilities for environmental law enforcement in developing countries is also a core approach to shape the new pattern of waste flows that will emerge from China’s ban.
case of waste plastics, for example, the quantities of imports into China have been significantly reduced (with some fluctuations) since 2012. Imports, were some 7.35 MT in 2016, which comprises a reduction of some 17% from 2012 levels (8.88 MT). While the volume of domestically recycled waste plastics increased from 16.0 MT to 18.8 MT. Besides, a collection system is being constructed after Chinese President Xi Jinping stressing the significance of municipal solid waste sorting and collection in December 2016 and with support from top-down policy issued by the State Council of China in May 2017. An expected synergy between the collection system and China's ban will facilitate the domestic waste to partially fill the demand of qualified facilities with the purpose to solve the health and environmental issues related to waste generated within China. China’s actions to enact a ban have resulted in changes in global waste flows and the migration of the waste processing industry. As a result, a greater proportion of waste will be disposed of/recycled in the country where it is generated, while the rest will be exported to other developing countries. Regarding the possible solutions that therefore can result from China’s far-reaching ban, a mechanism for taking full responsibility for waste generation throughout its life cycle should be embodied and implemented through international environment law to the greatest extent possible. The introduction of more advanced waste recycling technologies and the construction or upgrading of recycling facilities will be necessary for other developing countries, should there be increased imports of waste as a result of China’s ban. Simultaneously, developed countries should take further responsibility for waste recycling and disposal, since the treatment and disposal of wastes as close as possible to their place of generation is the ideal approach to take responsibility
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*(J.L.) Phone: +86-10-62794143; e-mail:
[email protected]. cn. ORCID
Jinhui Li: 0000-0001-7819-478X Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
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REFERENCES
(1) A recent reorganization of Ministries in China has resulted in a consolidation and renaming of MEP of China to the “Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) of China.” (2) United Nations Environment Programme; International Solid Waste Association Global Waste Management Outlook; 2015; p 332. (3) International Solid Waste Association Globalisation and Waste Management - Final report from the ISWA Task Force; Vienna, Austria, 2014; p 35. (4) Staub, C. Where exports displaced from China are finding a home. https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2018/01/16/ exports-displaced-china-finding-home/ (Feburary 20, 2018). (5) Wong, M. H.; Wu, S. C.; Deng, W. J.; Yu, X. Z.; Luo, Q.; Leung, A. O. W.; Wong, C. S. C.; Luksemburg, W. J.; Wong, A. S. Export of
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b01852 Environ. Sci. Technol. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
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Environmental Science & Technology toxic chemicals − A review of the case of uncontrolled electronic-waste recycling. Environ. Pollut. 2007, 149 (2), 131−140. (6) Tue, N. M.; Takahashi, S.; Subramanian, A.; Sakai, S.; Tanabe, S. Environmental contamination and human exposure to dioxin-related compounds in e-waste recycling sites of developing countries. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts 2013, 15 (7), 1326−1331.
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b01852 Environ. Sci. Technol. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
