China tightens waste import regulations

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It has been reported that China has tightened its supervision of the importation of solid waste.

The China Daily has said that the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), Ministry of Commerce, National Development and Reform Commission, General Administration of Customs and General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine jointly posted the Regulation on Managing Import of Solid Waste on the MEP website this week.

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In the newspaper report, it says that the regulation has banned dumping and treatment of solid waste from overseas in China, and transferring hazardous solid waste via China. It has also prohibited imports of solid waste that cannot be used as raw materials or pose a serious risk to the environment.

The regulation also says that enterprises engaged in processing imported solid waste should conduct daily monitoring to prevent pollution being generated during the processing of solid waste.

According to the notice, China imported over 40 million tonnes of solid waste in 2010 which could be used as raw materials, including waste paper, waste plastic, waste steel and iron and other metals.

At the time of publication, these regulations had not been posted on the English-language versions of the website for the ministries and regulatory bodies above.