How the rising cost of recycling is affecting the waste crisis
Last month, Chinese officials alerted the World Trade Organization (WTO) of plans to ban the import of certain waste materials, including common scrap metals and plastics, as part of an initiative against “foreign garbage.”
China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) indicated China will still import certain kinds of steel and nonferrous scrap. The MEP published a list of banned imports last Thursday, notably excluding scrap metals such as steel, copper, nickel, zinc and tin.
Reuters reports the MEP listed copper, steel and aluminum scrap from ships, automobiles and electronic devices under “limited import,” but did not clarify what constitutes limited. Tires, textiles, plastic, glass and expired medicines are completely prohibited in the ban.
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