- China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment would be moving scrap steel & aluminum to the restricted import list.
- The restriction on the import of scrap metals is part of the nation’s ongoing war against pollution which began in 2017.
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China has reportedly announced that it would be restricting the import of scrap steel & aluminum starting July 1, 2019, under its ongoing pollution campaign.
Sources familiar with the knowledge of the matter claim that the ministry would be moving scrap steel & aluminum products, which can be used as raw materials, from the unrestricted solid waste impost list to the restricted solid waste import list starting July.
According to a report, the Chinese government intends to recategorize about eight different types of solid wastes. This change would also be putting restrictions on imports of Category Six copper which is presently listed inside the non-limited import category. The government has already banned Category Seven copper imports at the end of 2018, claim sources with the knowledge of the development.
The ministry stated that the relevant departments are currently researching formulation of standards for recycled aluminum & copper. The aluminum & copper raw materials that fulfil the relevant national standards would no longer be considered as solid waste and the raw materials meeting the criteria could be imported as regular goods.
The primary intention behind the import restrictions and the war on pollution is to clean up the nation’s economy while also encouraging companies to recycle more materials to keep their respective wastes in check.
According to reports, since the government’s war on pollution gathered steam between this year’s January and the middle of November, the nation’s import of solid waste materials dropped by more than 50% as compared to the imports a year earlier during the same period.