Skip to content

China and the ban

A shift in plastics production from the West to Asia has occurred:

  1. 40% by weight of world production is now in Asia
    • China is the largest individual country at 24%.
  2. 20% in Europe
  3. 20% in America

The drivers were increasing local demand and lower costs - mainly labour, but also lower environmental and health and safety costs, due to the initial absence of regulations and/ or their implementation in both manufacturing and reprocessing.

b. "But a lot of the plastic China received in recent years was poor quality, and it became difficult to turn a profit.

c. China is also producing more plastic waste domestically, so it doesn't have to rely on other nations for waste."

d. 2017, China introduced a ban on non-industrial plastic imports - "National Sword" policy,

e. large exporters such as the United States, Canada, Australia and UK have failed to handle the increase in domestic plastic recycling demand. As such, some materials intended for recycling have subsequently been diverted to landfill.

f. Displaced plastic due to Chinese ban estimates: i. 7m tonnes = 2016 (travel wire Asia article) ii. 11m tonnes = 2017 iii. 15.8m tonnes = 2018 iv. 31.6m tonnnes = 2020 v. 71.4m tonnnes = 2025 vi. 110m tonnes = 2030

g. China has in the past tried to limit plastic imports. In 2013, the country implemented a “Green Fence” policy of restricting the types of plastic waste it would accept, with the goal of reducing contamination.

i. The policy lasted only a year, but it was enough to rattle the waste industry.

ii. “As a result, plastic recycling industries experienced a globally cascading effect since little infrastructure exists elsewhere to manage the rejected waste,”

h. How will excess plastic be handled now?

i. The rule went into effect on January 1, 2018, and plastic immediately began piling up in several European countries, the port of Hong Kong, and the US.

i. “My inventory is out of control,” Steve Frank, who owns recycling plants in Oregon, which up until then had exported most of its materials to China, told the New York Times at the time. He hoped he’d be able to start exporting more waste to countries like Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Malaysia—“anywhere we can”—but “they can’t make up the difference,”