Action coming to tackle trash smuggling

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has vowed to take specific action to crack down on the smuggling of waste into China from overseas, as criminals have become more creative in their efforts to avoid detection.

After four years of phasing out imports of garbage, China completely banned foreign waste imports last year. The country, however, is still confronted with challenges in preventing overseas waste from entering, Ren Yong, director-general of the ministry's department of solid waste and chemicals management, said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Driven by profit, some companies are still smuggling trash into the country, he said. In 2021, the General Administration of Customs investigated 110 waste smuggling cases involving 42,000 metric tons of foreign garbage.

Ren said smugglers have found creative ways to smuggle waste into the country. Some have even declared trash as being goods to be put on sale in the Chinese market.

The booming businesses of recycled raw materials import and the repair and maintenance services in bonded zones have created loopholes that may allow waste from overseas to enter China, he said.

Ren said the ministry, in cooperation with the General Administration of Customs, will step up measures that target the entire industrial chain of waste smuggling in accordance with the emerging characteristics.

The ministry will beef up the management of recycled raw material imports so that no waste will be smuggled through that channel, he noted.

He said the ministry will also set up an information-sharing mechanism with other government bodies as it endeavors to ramp up the supervision of solid waste from key maintenance service providers in bonded zones.

China started importing solid waste in the 1980s, back when it was considered a source of raw materials. Despite its relatively weak capacity for waste treatment, China was the world's largest solid waste importer for many years.

Against the backdrop of rising public awareness about environmental protection and the public concern about pollution, the central government published an action plan in July 2017 to completely ban waste imports by 2021.