Exports of recyclables, namely plastic and paper waste, from the European Union to China have been on a sharp decline since 2016 amid China's new policy, which envisions a ban on the trade of many types of solid waste, the EU statistical office, Eurostat, said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th July, 2020) Exports of recyclables, namely plastic and paper waste, from the European Union to China have been on a sharp decline since 2016 amid China's new policy, which envisions a ban on the trade of many types of solid waste, the EU statistical office, Eurostat, said on Thursday.
China's ban led to the downfall of imports of recyclables from the EU, and the bloc was forced to find other destinations in Asia for its plastic and paper waste, according to Eurostat.
"China filed a notification with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that it intended to ban trade of four classes and 24 kinds of solid waste by the end of 2017, including all plastic scrap, unsorted waste paper, certain metal recycling residues, textiles and all unsorted waste or scrap. This ban has led to a shift in the destinations of paper and plastic waste for recycling towards other Asian countries and Turkey," the EU statistical office said.
In particular, the EU exports of plastic waste to China fell from 1.4 million tonnes in 2016 to 14,000 tonnes in 2019. The bloc's total exports of plastic waste fell from 2.6 million tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes during the same period. The top three export destinations in 2019 were Malaysia, Indonesia and Turkey.
In addition, the EU's paper waste exports to China fell from over 5 million tonnes in 2016 to less than 700,000 tonnes in 2019. Last year, the bloc exported most of its waste to India, Indonesia and Turkey. Total paper waste exports fell from 7.4 million to 5.8 million during the same period.
Eurostat estimates that recyclable exports to China are set to fall even further this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
