A representative from a European firm that has felt the direct impacts of China’s import restrictions on recovered plastic recently offered an inside look at the fallout from the unprecedented disruption to industry trade.
Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].A representative from a European firm that has felt the direct impacts of China’s import restrictions on recovered plastic recently offered an inside look at the fallout from the unprecedented disruption to industry trade.
Waste and recycling haulers had slightly fewer fatal workplace injuries in 2016 than the year earlier, according to figures from the federal government.
Chinese plastics recycling companies are considering processing infrastructure investments in Southeast Asia, the U.S. and elsewhere.
An overhaul of the federal tax system was signed into law last month, ushering in major changes in how businesses throughout the recycling industry are taxed. At the same time, impacts may be felt at recycling nonprofit groups as some analysts predict declines in charitable giving.
The global recovered paper market experienced “a quite challenging year” in 2017, according to an expert at paper industry research firm RISI. And those challenges are only expected to continue as Chinese import restrictions ramp up.
Update: China has filed its official contamination proposals with the World Trade Organization, and they list a 0.5 percent threshold for most recyclables, down from the 1 percent limit that was previously considered.
China will shift its planned threshold for contamination in scrap paper imports from 0.3 percent to 1 percent, seemingly in response to concerns the original proposed limit would be impossible to hit.
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China officially announced last month that most inbound loads of recyclables will be allowed no more than 0.5 percent contamination, which is slightly less stringent than initial proposals. But industry executives recently noted that when it comes to recovered paper, that’s largely a moot point.
Multiple industry associations have renewed calls for China to reconsider its import restrictions in the weeks leading up to the country’s planned ban on certain recovered materials entering the country.
The federal tax bill before Congress this week retains tax incentives and exemptions that could boost the recycling sector.
Pratt Industries plans to break ground on a sizable recycled containerboard mill in the Midwest next year, a move that’s part of the company’s vertical integration strategy.