U.S. recycling leaders who are closely tied to export markets say China’s proposed prohibition on recovered plastic and paper imports could drive changes all the way back to the curb.
U.S. recycling leaders who are closely tied to export markets say China’s proposed prohibition on recovered plastic and paper imports could drive changes all the way back to the curb.
The news that China is aiming to roll out an outright ban on some grades of recovered material jolted the U.S. recycling industry last month.
A freight forwarding company has filed a lawsuit against a recyclables exporter, demanding to be reimbursed for tens of thousands of dollars in charges that accrued when cargo containers were left unclaimed at a Chinese port.
Pricing boosts continue to drive recycling revenues for North America’s three largest haulers. Meanwhile, company executives say they don’t expect China’s announced ban on certain scrap imports to inflict too much financial pain.
Chinese authorities have announced the country will prohibit some grades of recovered paper and plastic from being imported by the end of 2017. One U.S. group said that action would have a “devastating impact” on the wider recycling sector.
Demand for recovered commodities sent to China may further diminish as another round of import inspections threatens to slow or shutter Chinese processors.
Paper industry experts are saying recent statistics indicate China’s paperboard and paper producers are playing a lesser role in the global fiber recycling market.
The future of recovered materials exports to China remains hazy, but leaders from the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) made a few things clear after a recent trip to Hong Kong and Beijing.
The U.S. officially withdraws from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and an Oklahoma community struggles with high rates of contamination in curbside carts.
Chicago wants to better educate residents of a neighborhood posting a 6 percent diversion rate, and two reports calls on Michigan lawmakers to take steps to boost recycling.