The Chinese announcement that trembles the planet waste

China no longer wants to be the trash of the world: the Asian giant wants to prohibit the import of some waste an advertisement that stirs the industrialists of the sector in many countries.

On July 18, China informed the World Trade Organization (WTO) of its intention to prohibit the entry into its territory of 24 categories of solid waste, including some plastics, paper and textiles.

The notification sent by the Chinese Ministry of the Environment proposes an implementation next September, while an official of the Ministry of the Environment has evoked an application by the end of the year, according to the official agency New China.

To justify its decision, Beijing put forward the environmental argument. "We have found that large quantities of low-quality waste, and even hazardous waste, are mixed with solid waste ... This seriously pollutes the environment of China," says the Ministry of Environment In its notification to the WTO.

The country wants to improve the quality of waste entering its territory and to favor those that are well sorted and packaged.

If introduced, this measure "would have a significant impact ... on the global recycling industry and on Chinese production, which depends on recycled materials," responded BIR, the global association of the recycling industry.

China is the world's biggest importer of waste, recycled raw materials (plastic beads, paper and cardboard packaging), enabling it to fuel the growth of its industrial production.

In 2015, the country imported 49.6 million tons of solid waste, according to the Ministry of Environment.

But China is now trying to fight air and soil pollution caused by this economic development that has been done without environmental concern.

Beijing also wants to close many of the most polluting recycling plants in the country to favor more modern sites, and has already strengthened in recent months the quality control of imported waste.

- "Devastator" -

For the United States, the world's largest exporter of waste, China's decision would have a "devastating impact," according to Robin Wiener, president of ISRI, which brings together US players in the sector.

He recalled that the value of exports of metal waste, paper and plastics of the country reached $ 5.6 billion last year.

"China represents more than 50% of its waste exports to the European Union," Damien Dussaux, a researcher at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change in London, told AFP.

With the closure of the Chinese outlet, the industry fears that the volumes of waste to be recycled in the countries of origin will be congested.

Last year, for example, China imported 7.3 million tons of plastic waste, mainly from Europe, Japan and the United States, and 27 million tons of paper waste, 25-30 A mixture of paper and cardboard, a category covered by the Chinese measure, according to the BIR.

The sector also has a precedent: in 2013, China took steps to strengthen controls on waste arriving in its territory, resulting in lower prices of recycled raw materials on world markets.

"In the short term, we are going to have a congestion of the European market with inevitably a reduction of the selling prices, because the capacities of the recycling plants in Europe will not suffice to absorb volumes that will remain on the European market" Pierre Moguérou, Vice-President of the Plastics Division of the French federation of industrialists Federec.

And investing in new capacities would take time, while this announcement is in a tense context for certain materials, such as recycled plastics, for which the industry lacks opportunities for manufacturers.

This announcement will, on the other hand, favor those in the sector who are capable of supplying high quality waste.

Some also see China's willingness to support its own recycling industry.

The country "has launched in 2017 a plan for a 67% increase in the turnover of the recycling industry in 2020, compared to 2015," explains Vincent Aurez, circular economy expert at EY.