China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MoEE) announced on June 30 that China will ban the import of solid waste completely as of January 1, 2021.
China has tightened its control of waste imports since 2017 when the government banned the importation of 24 types of solid waste, which included some types of paper, plastics and textiles. In 2018, the government added another 32 types of waste, such as metal and wood waste, to the ban.
The latest ban comes as new national standards on recycled brass, copper and cast aluminium alloy came into force on July 1. The metals are now recategorized as raw materials, and not subject to import quotas.
Analysts said that the blanket ban on the import of solid waste and the new standards will help further improve China’s environment and upgrade the scrap nonferrous metal industry.
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