National Sword

[hobo finds]

China plastic imports
Plastics News


May 11, 2017 Updated 12 days ago

China sharpens sword for scrap plastic imports
By Kent Miller


Public Policy Sustainability China Recycling



China Replas While many details remain murky, some recycling industry officials are interpreting the April 18 announcement as a sign the government will move toward banning scrap imports.

Dongguan, China — Worries about further tightening of China's imports of scrap plastic were front and center at the Replas conference and trade show in the southern city of Dongguan May 11, with businesses reporting new difficulties and peppering government officials for clarity.

"This is the most difficult conference in my experience," said Wang Wang, secretary general of the China Scrap Plastics Association, the organizer of the May 11-12 event.

Beijing launched a new nationwide crackdown on scrap imports, called National Sword, in February. That was followed up by an April 18 announcement at the 34th meeting of the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform, headed by China's President Xi Jinping, that called for unspecified further restrictions on imported recyclables.

While many details remain murky, some recycling industry officials are interpreting the April 18 announcement as a sign the government will move toward banning scrap imports.

"It is a significant change of [the] recycling business," said Kathy Xuan, a board member of the recycling committee of the Beijing-based China Plastics Processing Industry Association, and CEO of recycler Parc Corp. in Romeoville, Ill.

She called the announcement a "huge surprise" and said it could prompt recycling companies to consider leaving China.





A translation of the order provided by Xuan said the Chinese government is concerned about the health and environmental impacts from imports of all kinds of scrap materials, and said that under timelines yet to be developed, imports "will be significantly reduced."

One target has already emerged: hard-to-clean plastic bags.

A government official's presentation to the packed Replas conference room included pictures of badly soiled bales of bags and recycling plants choked with filthy air.

Later, CEO Shan Xia Qiang of Japan-based recycler Asia Star Business Co. told Plastics News that since last month he has not been able to export scrap bags from Japan to his plant in the Chinese city of Taichang. He plans to recycle the bags at a sister plant in Japan.




Echoing the April 18 order, a government official suggested that processing of domestic waste should be increased.

"We need to process domestic plastic scrap instead of imported scrap," said Ju Huanzheng of the government's Solid Waste and Chemicals Management Center, speaking through an interpreter.

The National Sword crackdown this year is part of a complementary effort, Blue Sky, to crack down on smuggled waste. Last year, inspectors tracked down 60,000 tons of illicit plastic scrap.

Recyclers in China are used to aggressive government monitoring of imported scrap. Beijing's Operation Green Fence dramatically cut down on scrap imports from around the world in 2013.

At the round table discussion that wrapped up the afternoon session of Replas, the concern was palpable as audience members peppered the speakers with questions about the forthcoming policies.

"Can we have clear standards we need to meet?" asked one recycler. Another complained that Guangzhou, the nation's biggest entrance port for scrap plastics, will no longer accept scrap bound for inland recyclers.

Out on the trade show floor, sales manager Myron Cai of PET recycler Lunnex Chemical Fiber (Fuzhou) Co. Ltd. was concerned that the government might ban the import of all waste.

CSPA Executive President Steve Wong told Plastics News that the government is targeting "anything which is contaminated," such as post-consumer and agricultural scrap plastic. The government now reckons 0.5 percent as the threshold of contamination, Wong said.

"You need to decide if the scrap you are recycling can fit into the government system," said Ju.

Chinese plastics recyclers are already moving toward greater reliance on domestic scrap. Scrap imports peaked in 2011, according to government data presented at the conference.


And...

In a July 18 filing with the World Trade Organization (WTO), China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection said recovered mixed paper – as well as recycled PET, PE, PVC and PS, textiles and vanadium slag – would be banned from import into the country later this year.

And now this...

ISRI reports that in its Nov. 15 filing with the WTO, China proposed the following standards for contamination, which would apply beginning March 1, 2018:

LME inline RT Oct Cube •smelt slag, 0.5 percent;
•wood, 0.5 percent;
•paper, 0.5 percent;
•ferrous, 0.5 percent;
•nonferrous, 1 percent;
•electric motors, 0.5 percent;
•wires and cables, 0.5 percent;
•metal and appliances, 0.5 percent;·
•vessels, 0.05 percent;
•plastic, 0.5 percent; and
•autos, 0.3 percent.

In its alert to members, the association states: “Although ISRI is pleased to see that there has been movement away from the 0.3 percent thresholds, the new proposed threshold levels are still of great concern.”

This is not goanna be good at all!

[AGgressive Metal]

thanks for posting, recycler near me stopped taking plastic almost immediately when this hit

[hobo finds]

Its goanna hurt second hand stores that used to be able to get rid of there old clothes, if they are not buying textiles, also I think it could be the end for many community recycling programs. Then again we could open up our closed paper mills and start making paper again.

[Dr. Cadmium]

Agreed, this is bad news for everyone in the business, myself included. The number one issue in the recycling business is logistics, and this development throws logistics completely out the window. A lot of places are refusing material now, and it's only a matter of time before a lot more of it goes to landfills.

Then again we could open up our closed paper mills and start making paper again.

I've often thought the same, especially for steel foundries and copper smelters. As much as I'd like to see those industries here instead of abroad, the math just doesn't work out. The labor costs are simply too high for many of these materials. More than likely markets will spring up in other countries such as Vietnam and Korea. Until then, there will be a severe glut of low grade and contaminated materials.

[hobo finds]

F China I just got a plastic bag marked Made in India! LOL

[hobo finds]

Now this... http://www.china.org.cn/china/Off_the_W ... 913128.htm

Announcement on Adjustment to the Catalogue for the Administration of Import Solid Waste
Announcement No. 6 in 2018
In order to further regulate the administration of importation of solid waste and prevent environment pollution, in accordance with the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste, the Measures for the Administration of Importation of Solid Waste, and other applicable laws and regulations, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Commerce, National Development and Reform Commission, and General Administration of Customs shall make the following adjustment to the current Catalogue of Solid Waste Used as Raw Materials under Restricted Import, Catalogue of Solid Waste Used as Raw Materials under Non-Restricted Import, and Catalogue of Banned Import Solid Waste:
1. Sixteen (16) types of solid waste (as set forth in Annex 1 attached hereto), including, among others, metal scraps, scrap vessels, compressed piece of scrap automobile, smelt slag, and industrial waste and scrap of plastics, listed in the Catalogue of Solid Waste Used as Raw Materials under Restricted Import, shall be moved to and included in the Catalogue of Banned Import Solid Waste, effective as of December 31, 2018; and
2. Sixteen (16) types of solid waste (as set forth in Annex 2 attached hereto), including, among others, waste and scrap of stainless steel, titanium wastes and scraps, and wood waste and scrap, listed in the Catalogue of Solid Waste Used as Raw Materials under Restricted Import or Catalogue of Solid Waste Used as Raw Materials under Non-Restricted Import, shall be moved to and included in the Catalogue of Banned Import Solid Waste, effective as of December 31, 2019.
In event of any discrepancy between the catalogues enclosed in the Catalogue for the Administration of Import Solid Waste (Announcement No. 37 in 2017 issued by Ministry of Environmental Protection, Ministry of Commerce, National Development and Reform Commission, General Administration of Customs, and General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine) and this announcement, this announcement shall prevail.
This announcement is hereby issued.
Annex: 1. List of Solid Waste to be Included in the Catalogue of Banned Import Solid Waste Effective as of the End of 2018

[hobo finds]

And now this http://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/c ... -may-2018/ China not accepting any scrap for 30 day period. I wonder what this will do to scrap prices...


"The Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has notified its members that it has learned that the U.S. operations of CCIC North America (CCIC NA) have been suspended for one month, effective May 4 through June 4, 2018.

“As a result, no [outbound scrap shipment] inspections can be arranged or certificates issued during this period,” states ISRI, as CCIC’s preinspection system in North America has been temporarily closed. “There is no doubt that this will severely impact U.S. scrap exports to China,” the organization says in its May 3 announcement.

According to ISRI, “This action affects only the scrap recycling industry and only shipments from the United States [and] containers that received CCIC approval prior to May 4 but that have not yet obtained their certificate will encounter difficulty at the port of entry.”









"The association also indicates that exporters responsible for containers that fail CIQ (China Inspection and Quarantine Services) inspection at a Chinese port could face losing their AQSIQ (General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine) export license.

According to ISRI, the Chinese General Administration of Customs has issued a notice stating specific steps are being taken because of the failure of “multiple batches” of material arriving at Chinese ports that did not meet the government’s environmental protection standards.

Beginning May 4, all shipments arriving from the U.S. will be required to be 100 percent opened for inspection. Shipments containing unwanted materials will be subject to “100 percent examination with lab testing analysis,” in a procedure that one trader based in south China suggests would cost about $20,000.

The materials listed as unwanted in the ISRI notification are: “hot plastic waste plastics, metal scrap containing powder and the waste papers containing hard-to-be-identified special paper (silicone paper, wet wax paper, thermal paper, moisture-proof paper, etc.) and waste paper with suspected hazardous materials.”"