March 27, 2019 – China’s trash import ban has been extended. Last year Beijing banned the imports of 24 varieties of solid waste. On Friday it announced that the ban has been extended to more materials including steel waste and used auto parts.
This ban has created quite the wakeup call for areas that rely on China to deal with their trash.
The U.S. Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries has shaken a warning that this ban is damaging global supply chains and will force manufacturers to use new materials as opposed to recycled ones.
According to CNN, the chief executive of the Recycling Association in the U.K. Simon Ellin said the ban is giving them more reason to invest in recycling technologies. The reason for this is because China will only buy high-quality scrap materials that can be recycled into new items.
“It is inevitable that in the future, other countries will follow China, looking into bringing similar quality standards, so the quality of our material has to be better,” Ellin told CNN.
