Nov 4 - China Cracks Down on Plastic Waste Smuggling
In today's Waste and Recycling News, two people were recently convicted of smuggling waste plastics into the country. Under China's national environmental protection standards, there is a ban on import of trash that cannot be used as raw materials for recycling or used in an environmentally sound way.
The two were convicted of smuggling in a total of 19,893 metric tons of waste plastics from Vietnam into China´s Guangxi autonomous region from January 2009 through April 2010, according to China News Service. The plastic waste does not meet China's national environmental protection standards for imported foreign waste. The plastics scrap was purchased in Vietnam, smuggled through a river on the border, and then transferred to other regions in China. The crime evaded at least $3.2 million (20 million yuan) in tariffs. Five other accomplices were also sentenced to prison time of three years or longer, as well as fines.
China's recent crackdown is another reason why we need to continue investing in domestic processing and manufacturing capacity. In California, thanks to the Plastic Market Development program (PMDP), there has been less exportation of plastics each year. The PMDP is a vital market-based incentive program with goal of increasing and supporting the California processing and utilization of CA-generated post-consumer recycled plastic. Recently, AB 1149 (Gordon & Wieckowski) was signed into law, providing a 5 year extension of the PMDP Program.
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