China consults on revision of its law on the “Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes”

On 11 July, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) of the People’s Republic of China opened their draft revision of the Law on the « Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes » for public consultation.

The public consultation is open until 18th August 2018. After approval by the State Council and the National People's Congress publication is expected mid-2019 followed by entry into force.

Some provisions of the law directly relate to import of scrap, such as Art. 29 which “… forbids the import of solid wastes”.

Chinese recycling industry companies and associations have already expressed comments, such as the non-ferrous industry, advocating that the non-ferrous metal scraps should be allowed to be imported, because China is not self-sufficient in primary raw materials. China’s major metal minerals are scarce and costly to extract and China’s fundamental policy to solve the problem of resource shortage and environmental protection was to make full use of primary raw materials and recycled raw materials both domestic and imported. China’s recycling industry had rapidly developed and production had grown with imports of overseas renewable resources (scraps) accounting for some half of China's non-ferrous metal production. The Chinese recycling industries stress the environmental benefits of scrap imports in terms of energy saving and environmental pollution reduction as well as the social and economic impact with a labour-intensive recycling industry (import, dismantling, recycling, smelting, processing, trade and service etc.) providing direct employment to several million persons and to more indirectly.

The draft BIR response to the public consultation incorporating comments from members can be seen HERE, BIR members are invited to propose additional text to enhance this position paper before 10th August to: rbartley@bir.org