China bans imports of all solid waste from 1 January 2021

From 1 January 2021 no solid waste may be imported into China. The announcement by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of November 2020 closed the process of phasing out imports that began in 2017.

Content of the announcement

The document, cited in the literature as Announcement of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment No. 53 of 2020, was issued on 24 November 2020 and applies from 1 January 2021. According to a report by the Xinhua agency, the announcement was issued jointly by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs. The translation of the announcement states: “The import of solid waste in any manner is prohibited”, and it also prohibits dumping, storing and disposing of solid waste from abroad on Chinese territory.

The ministry stopped accepting and approving applications for licences to import solid waste that could be used as raw materials; licences issued in 2020 are valid only until the end of 2020 and expire automatically. Waste generated in special customs supervision zones and in bonded-type customs supervision places is subject to national solid waste regulations. The announcement at the same time repealed five earlier notices from 2011–2018.

Legal basis

The decision was linked to the amended law on preventing solid waste pollution, adopted on 29 April 2020 and applicable from 1 September 2020. The law declares a drive towards zero imports — the ban of 1 January 2021 is its implementation.

The previous stage: 2017

According to the announcement of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, repeated by Xinhua, at the end of 2017 China banned the import of 24 types of solid waste, including unsorted paper, textiles and vanadium slag. The total ban of 2021 ends this phase of phasing out imports.

Significance for biowaste

The import ban concerned secondary raw materials (e.g. paper, plastics, metals), not biowaste, and has no direct connection with digestion technology. Its significance for our sector is indirect: it means that China must rely more on domestic waste streams, and we write about their sorting at source in separate posts.

What this means for Poland/Europe

China's decision is a reminder that the market for secondary raw materials can depend on the decisions of a single recipient country. Polish recycling companies and municipalities should take demand volatility into account in contracts and in investments in sorting plants.