Soaring volumes of scrap plastic and paper shipped to Vietnam have caused growing concern among local officials, who have logged numerous instances of customs violations in recent months.
Soaring volumes of scrap plastic and paper shipped to Vietnam have caused growing concern among local officials, who have logged numerous instances of customs violations in recent months.
Major Vietnam shipping terminals will temporarily stop accepting imports of scrap plastic, citing an overload of the material that has caused backups and delays. The move is a significant development for the global recycled plastics industry, because Vietnam has accepted much more material since China cut off imports.
The Chinese government provides an option for pre-shipment inspections, and California lawmakers may add language about National Sword into state law. These are among the recent developments as China continues to revise its import regulations and the U.S. recycling industry reacts.
Clean PET flake may be allowed into China instead of being considered a waste prohibited from import, according to several sources with knowledge of the situation.
China has ratcheted up inspection requirements for recyclables imported from the U.S., requiring every load to be opened for inspection and shutting down the only organization providing pre-shipment approval in the U.S.
China has issued its latest round of import permits for scrap materials, and approved volumes remain particularly low on the plastics side.
In the course of one year, Los Angeles-area exporters cut their scrap polyethylene shipments to China by 99 percent, leaving thousands of tons of plastic looking for a home. Other countries were only able to absorb about one-fifth of the volume.
Trade tensions between the U.S. and China have come closer to directly impacting the plastics recycling industry.
Li Ganjie, China’s minister of environmental protection
China’s top environmental official has quantified the reduction in scrap materials flowing into the country as a result of recent restrictions. He also spoke publicly about the market fallout and the criticism China has received for enacting its reforms.
Chinese officials have accused the U.S. of hypocrisy for denigrating the scrap imports ban amid a brewing trade war between the two nations.