British media focus on China’s ban on foreign waste import: Western manufacturers should take responsibility for environmental protection

Three months ago, the Chinese government decided to ban the import of 24 kinds of wastes in order to crack down on the problem of “foreign garbage”, according to British media. Previously, Chinese waste recycling companies imported millions of metric tons of waste from other countries every year for recycling. The international recycling Bureau estimates that China imported 7.3 million metric tons of waste glue and 27 million tons of waste paper from Europe, Japan and the United States last year. Weiner, President of the waste recycling industry association of the United States, revealed that there are about 155000 local workers engaged in work directly related to the export of waste to China, with an average wage of US $76000 and paying more than US $3 billion in taxes to governments at all levels in the United States. He pointed out that if China really wants to ban the import of these “foreign garbage”, it will cause a “disastrous blow” to the recycling industry. 1n China’s eyes, the reason for banning the import of foreign waste is simple: environmental pollution, the report said. The document submitted by China to the WTO directly pointed out that a large number of “dirty and even harmful wastes” in the imported wastes are mixed with solid wastes that can be used as raw materials, seriously polluting China’s environment. Baxter, foreign affairs chairman of RPC, a British recycler, pointed out that the cheapest way to deal with these wastes used to be to put them in containers and transport them to places where the wages of workers are cheaper for manual disposal. As China implements the ban by 2018 at the latest, the UK recycling industry has sent letters to environmental, food and rural affairs asking the authorities to help them deal with the problem of garbage accumulation. Byrd, chairman of the recycling industry advisory board of a local government in the UK, believes that even if China no longer imports waste from other places, the UK can export waste to other places, such as 1ndia and other Asian regions. But there will be a little change in the price, which is always a crisis for the local government. The report said that after China reformed its policy of importing “foreign waste”, the recycling industry needs to invest more money to deal with the problem of global waste surplus. For Byrd, a local government recycling industry advisory board in the UK, the responsibility for solving the long-term waste problem must extend to the global product supply chain, especially manufacturers. One particular change, he said, could have a huge impact: expanding producer responsibility” This means that producers have to pay a price to ensure that the product they are making can be handled in an efficient and environmentally cost-effective way. “< Materials and pictures: Shantou customs, Lufeng public security, frontier defense, anti smuggling, industry and commerce departments smashed a storage den for smuggled and imported used garments in Jieshi town (photo taken on March 3). China has decided to ban the import of recyclable waste products from some countries, including the UK, from the end of 2017, the British media said. According to the Times quoted on the BBC website on September 21, China's practice is part of the efforts to reduce and clean environmental pollution, which is understandable. However, China's total ban on the import of recyclable waste from abroad will cause a chain reaction and have a huge and far-reaching impact on the world. The packaging industry bears the brunt, the report said. 1t is reported that the recyclable waste products exported to China are tens of billions of US dollars. According to the report, these products include plastic bottles, waste paper, cartons, polyethylene and PVC used for packaging, which are recycled at home and then collected by local governments. Brunette of the Brussels based international recycling agency said China's ban would affect the global economy. According to the report, China's ban on the import of overseas recycled waste may be related to strengthening domestic environmental protection measures. At the same time, the Beijing government is worried about China's environmental deterioration and public health. 1n addition, with the strengthening of China's environmental awareness, domestic recycling is also increasing. Therefore, the authorities hope to make more use of domestic recycling resources rather than relying on imported recycled wastes. Brunette said that China's ban also poses a challenge to the global recycling industry, which must adapt to the new environment and improve the quality of recycled waste by investing in new technologies and waste sorting. Some people believe that China's ban can be regarded as a wake-up call, aimed at getting governments and recycling industries to act, invest in recycling industries and improve their competitiveness, but it will take a certain amount of time photo: on November 17, 2016, the staff carried smuggled waste clothes at Tuyang Wharf in Shenzhen. Xinhua News Agency reporter Mao Siqian: China will no longer import 24 kinds of “foreign garbage” to reduce environmental pollution from the end of the year. The foreign media reported on July 21 that China will no longer import 24 kinds of solid wastes such as waste plastics, waste paper and waste textile raw materials for recycling from the end of 2017. The scholars interviewed believe that this policy will reduce China’s environmental pollution and reflect that China’s economic development model has entered a new stage. According to Lianhe Zaobao of Singapore on July 21, Guo Jing, director general of the Department of international cooperation of China’s Ministry of environmental protection, said at a news conference on the morning of July 20 that China had informed the World Trade Organization of the above policy arrangements on July 18. Guo Jing said: “the problem of foreign garbage (imported solid waste) has reached the point where everyone shouts to fight. 1n the past specific development stage, some imported raw material solid wastes did play a certain role in making up for China’s domestic resource shortage, but now these imported solid wastes have also exposed many problems, polluting the environment and harming people’s health. ” Ma Jun, director of China Public Environment Research Center, pointed out in an interview with Lianhe Zaobao that China’s solid waste imports are seriously mixed, the report said. “The cost of dealing with these substances in the west is high, and many countries have the power to transfer them. Many illegal businessmen in China choose to smuggle solid waste for profit, which causes a lot of toxic and harmful substances to flow into China,” he said Ma Jun also pointed out that many domestic recycling enterprises lack solid waste treatment capacity and do not operate according to regulations, resulting in secondary pollution. According to the report, in order to deal with the environmental problems caused by solid waste, the comprehensive deepening reform group of the CPC Central Committee passed the “implementation plan on banning the entry of foreign waste and promoting the reform of the solid waste import management system” in April 2017, proposing to formulate a timetable for banning the import of solid waste by industry and category, and comprehensively use legal, economic and administrative means, The import types and quantities of solid waste will be greatly reduced. Guo Jing said that under this background, the Ministry of environmental protection first banned the import of 24 Categories of solid wastes with high environmental pollution risk and strong public response, and issued a notice in accordance with the requirements of the WTO on transparency. According to reports, these 24 types of solid waste are divided into four categories: domestic waste plastics, vanadium slag, unsorted waste paper and waste textile raw materials. According to the report, Ma Jun believes that the official willingness to implement the ban reflects from the side that China’s economic development model has officially entered a new stage. Ma Jun said: “in the past, China did not dare to strictly implement such a prohibition policy because of the extensive development model, the consumption of a lot of resources and the demand for solid waste. Now that it has been implemented, it shows that China’s development model has been adjusted, hoping to realize the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure, and no longer seek economic growth at the cost of low cost and environmental pollution. ” Since July 1, China’s Ministry of environmental protection has also launched a special action to crack down on illegal environmental behavior of imported waste. As of July 17, 1162 enterprises have been investigated, and 751 enterprises have been proposed to file cases for punishment, accounting for 65% of the total. According to the report, Ma Jun believes that the official two pronged control measures can lay an important foundation for the treatment of the solid waste problem, but he also reminds: “one time action or phased cleaning is not enough. This problem needs to be managed in a normalized and systematic way, and supervised and regulated by social forces by enhancing the transparency of information.”< Nanjing Customs verified the smuggled wastes. Nanjing, June 22 (by Dong Yan and Yang Yanci) Nanjing Customs reported a smuggling case of solid waste “foreign garbage” on the evening of the 21st: the case verified more than 6000 tons of waste powder coatings. Among them, more than 900 tons were seized on the spot, and a large number of smuggling evidence materials were seized. At the beginning of this year, Yangzhou customs anti smuggling branch of Nanjing Customs found that Wang and Xu were suspected of smuggling solid waste. With the assistance of local police, we have identified that suspect Wang and Xu have purchased large amounts of waste powder coatings produced in the process of production in Korea and Japan since 2015. 1n order to make huge profits, they colluded with liang of an international trade Co., Ltd. in Qingdao and bypassed Qingdao, Shandong Province. Taking a Chemical Co., Ltd. in Suzhou as the owner and an international trade Co., Ltd. in Qingdao as the business unit, they smuggled a large number of waste powder coatings from Qingdao Customs area by means of false name< Nanjing Customs verified the smuggled wastes. After taking full advantage of the early stage, Wang Chenhui Nanjing customs anti smuggling police launched a network of operations in Yangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Qingdao and Shanghai in June 21st. 1t cracked a special case of smuggling of goods and captured 5 suspect. At the production site of the illegal processing plant, the customs anti smuggling police found that a large number of smuggled waste powder coatings were randomly stacked. Because the powder particles were small and light, they were dispersed in the air, causing great harm to workers’ health. 1t is understood that the waste powder coating, commonly known as “waste powder”, is the waste coating produced in the process of powder coating production or spraying. 1n the process of processing, the workers simply sift and sort the “waste powder”, and remove the lumps and other impurities. Once these sorted impurities and lumps are dumped at will, they will cause serious pollution to the surrounding environment and groundwater. According to the circular, in order to seek illegal interests, domestic small and medium-sized production enterprises often mix recycled and expired ultra-fine particles and other unqualified waste powder coatings with raw materials of the same formula products to produce medium and low-grade powder coatings and sell them in the domestic market for profits. According to the catalogue of prohibited import of solid wastes, expired and abandoned coatings are definitely prohibited to be imported. Such smuggling behavior violates the criminal law and constitutes the crime of smuggling wastes