ORLANDO, Fla. -- According to estimates from a Chinese plastics recycling organization, China's waste plastics imports this year may fall sharply from 2017 levels, falling below 5% last year.
Huang Chuyu, executive director of the China Waste Plastics Association, headquartered in Beijing, said that China has only approved about 375 million pounds of imported plastics, about 3% of the 1.29 billion pounds imported in 2017.
In a speech at the recycling meeting of the 2018 American International Plastics and Rubber Exhibition (NPE2018) in Orlando on May 8th, President Huang said: "In 2018, at this moment, this is only a prediction. Until last month, only 40,000 tons (about 88.1 million pounds) of plastic waste passed the import review."
In view of the severe crackdown on imports of waste plastics and other materials by China’s national sword operation last year, the decline was expected. However, President Huang’s speech emphasized the scale of the tremendous changes that the global recycling industry is experiencing.
As China issued a notice to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to significantly restrict the import of recycled materials in July 2017, President Huang estimated that 60 to 70% of Chinese plastic recycling enterprises relying on imported materials have closed down, and about 10% of enterprises Replace raw materials with domestic materials.
President Huang said that about 20% of the remaining companies have transferred their operations to other countries, especially Southeast Asia, which process waste into pellets in Southeast Asia and then export them directly to manufacturing plants in China.
President Huang said: "Southeast Asia is currently the most popular recycling site, the most popular countries are Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia."
He said that the "unprecedented" change means that there is still a shortage of recycled pellets exported to Chinese factories, a shortage that domestic recyclers cannot fill. "
He said: "We are talking about the 5 million tons of recycled granules that China needs. I would like to say that in fact, it is more than 5 million tons. Due to the Belt and Road Initiative (Government Plan) initiative, China's infrastructure is growing."
He pointed out that in the heyday of a few years ago, China imported about 9 million tons (about 19.9 billion pounds) of waste plastic.
President Huang predicted that the shortage in China will be met in the short term, at least with new materials. He said: "They have to do it with new materials."
Although the global plastic recycling business model is undergoing transformation, President Huang warned that the new strategy of transporting waste to other countries and processing it into pellets for export to China is also facing challenges. For example, Chinese customs officials now have a detailed look at the reclaimed pellets on the port.
CSPA's March report stated that 50% or more of the recycled pellets were being randomly inspected by customs officials to ensure that imported goods entered the factory directly as raw materials.
In his speech, President Huang reiterated the figure of 50% and said that government officials are concerned that raw plastic waste will be mixed with particles. Finally, CSPA reports that customs goods inspections can take up to a month.
President Huang said: "Once the officials find that the recycled pellets do not meet the cargo description, the container will be repatriated." He said that companies need to standardize the shipment of recycled resin pellets to China, including the color and size of the pellets.
Similarly, there are concerns about the long-term direction of some new locations.
President Huang said that some Chinese recyclers who have transferred their operations to other countries are cautious about local similar import bans. Will the governments of these countries follow the example of China and start worrying about water, air and soil caused by recycling business? Pollution.
President Huang said: "Because of the relatively low cost, people moved from China to these countries, but no one can guarantee that these Southeast Asian countries will not implement their own national swords, or enforce the ban on certain plastics."
He advocates some technical improvements, such as recycling companies using dry cleaning to reduce wastewater pollution. He also said that the industry needs to develop better machinery to handle low-end recycled materials.
President Huang said that in countries where waste is generated, more recycling operations require larger solutions.
He said that only about 14% of the 340 million tons of plastic used every year in the world is recycled and reused, and it is also worried about marine pollution and other environmental problems, which will result in greater reduction of disposable plastics and promotion of recycling. pressure.
He said: "In fact, we must ensure that any products we produce can be recycled."
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