After nearly nine years of keeping foreign plastic waste at arm’s length, China is reopening its borders to certain recycled plastic materials.
There is something wonderfully ironic about this.
China is the world’s manufacturing powerhouse. It produces enormous quantities of virgin plastics, consumes enormous quantities of plastic packaging and consequently generates enormous quantities of plastic waste.
And yet China is looking abroad for recycled plastic raw materials.
Welcome to the global recycled-plastic treasure hunt.
For years, Europe has been preparing increasingly ambitious recycled-content targets, particularly for packaging. On paper, enormous quantities of recycled plastic will therefore have to appear on the European market during the coming decade.
China’s decision gives us an interesting opportunity to test how much of this material actually exists.
If European recycling is producing the quantities and qualities suggested by Europe’s circular-economy ambitions, Europe should eventually have something very valuable to sell China: real recycled plastic.
So let’s watch the trade statistics.
How many tonnes of European recycled plastic will actually arrive in Chinese ports?
And there is another question worth asking: what exactly will China recognise as recycled content?
Will Chinese authorities accept mass-balance accounting associated with chemical recycling, or will they expect identifiable recycled material crossing the border?
China may inadvertently have created one of the more entertaining reality checks for the global plastics recycling industry.
The treasure hunt has begun.
Personal Remarks
Although the European Union likes to present itself as the responsible waste manager of the planet, it increasingly seems that the important and impactful decisions are being taken by China.
The European Union has become the jester at its own party.
Now, finally, we may get an interesting reality check: how much recycled plastic will Europe actually export to China?
An important question is whether China will accept the mass-balance system. If it does, the whole exercise risks becoming rather meaningless: China could theoretically end up importing plastics attributed with European “recycled content” credentials through an accounting system, rather than physically identifiable recycled plastic.
If China is serious about securing genuine recycled feedstock, it should insist on physical recycled content and full traceability, rather than mass-balance certificates.
That would make things particularly interesting.
For years, Europe has produced targets, regulations, certificates and increasingly sophisticated definitions of recycled content. China may now simply ask:
Where is the recycled plastic?
Source
After 9 Years, China Is Reopening Its Borders To Recycled Plastic