From 2021, China Will "Stop" The Import Of Solid Waste

Pushing forward the reform of solid waste import management system is coming to an end. On November 25, the Ministry of ecology and environment and other departments jointly issued the announcement on matters related to the total prohibition of the import of solid waste (hereinafter referred to as the "announcement"), stating that it is prohibited to import solid waste in any way. It is forbidden to dump and stack solid wastes in China. The announcement shall come into force on January 2021.

According to the provisions of the announcement, the Ministry of ecology and environment shall stop accepting and approving the application for import license of solid waste that can be used as raw materials in the restricted import category; the solid waste import license issued in 2020 for the restricted import category that can be used as raw materials shall be used within the validity period of 2020 specified in the certificate, and will automatically become invalid after the expiration of the time limit.

"2020 is the end of banning the entry of foreign waste and promoting the reform of solid waste import management system." Liu Youbin, a spokesman for eco-environmental protection, said at a regular press conference that the law of the people's Republic of China on the prevention and control of environmental pollution by solid waste, which came into effect on September 1 this year, clearly defines the legal requirements for the identification of import goods suspected of solid waste, the return and disposal of illegally entered solid waste, and has greatly increased the intensity of illegal punishment.

Huatai Securities once pointed out that the purpose of restricting the import of solid waste is to prevent the risk of garbage import on China's natural environment and public health, and prevent China from becoming a garbage dumping country; at the same time, it should improve the recycling rate of renewable resources, upgrade and transform China's manufacturing standards, and reduce the dependence on foreign resources.

In fact, since the 1980s, in order to alleviate the shortage of raw materials, China began to import solid waste which can be used as raw materials from abroad. Nowadays, China has become one of the largest importers of solid waste in the world. According to the statistics of the China Business Industry Research Institute, the import volume of solid waste in China has increased rapidly since the 1990s. From 1995 to 2016, China's annual import of garbage increased from 4.5 million tons to more than 48 million tons.

In July 2017, the general office of the State Council issued the implementation plan for banning the entry of foreign garbage and promoting the reform of the management system for solid waste import. It was pointed out that due to the idea of attaching importance to development and neglecting environmental protection in some places, some enterprises did not hesitate to take risks to seek illegal interests, and the illegal entry of foreign garbage was prohibited repeatedly, which seriously endangered the health of the people and the ecological environment security of China All.

The above plan is clear and will improve the supervision system for blocking the import of foreign garbage. For example, by the end of 2019, we will gradually and orderly reduce the types and quantities of solid waste imports. The Management Catalogue of imported solid waste should be adjusted in batches and categories, so as to greatly reduce the type and quantity of solid waste to be imported.

Subsequently, from 2017 to 2019, the Ministry of ecology and environment and other departments issued and adjusted the import waste management catalogue for many times. For example, on the basis of adjusting 24 kinds of solid wastes including domestic waste plastics, unsorted waste paper, waste textiles and vanadium slag as prohibited imports in 2017, the second and third batch of contents were adjusted in 2018: 16 kinds of solid wastes, such as waste hardware, waste ship, waste automobile pressure parts, smelting slag and industrial waste plastics, were adjusted to be prohibited from import; and stainless steel scrap and titanium waste were adjusted in 2019 16 kinds of solid wastes, such as crushed materials and wood wastes, have been adjusted to be prohibited from import.

It is worth noting that in the current situation of plastic ban, plastic restriction and foreign waste import tightening, the market performance of some enterprises involved in the supply of raw materials is expected to strengthen. Wanlian securities researchers Chen Wen and Li Ying pointed out that the price of base paper and state-owned waste rose slightly, and it is expected to be stable and good in the short term. For example, the price of corrugated paper increased by 11.78% in the first ten days of November compared with the same period last year; the price of white cardboard rose for four consecutive times, and is expected to exceed 7000 yuan / ton in the year.

However, the industry also believes that it is not advisable to adopt a "one size fits all" policy for the import of waste plastics. Wang Hua, chairman of Xiamen land and sea environmental protection Co., Ltd., said in an interview that the adjustment of waste plastic import policy requires a transitional buffer scheme. With the introduction of domestic recycling system policies and regulations, the import quota can be gradually and moderately reduced to guide the industry to gradually reduce the import volume, but it is not appropriate to use too much force to achieve the goal in one step.