UK plan adds certainty for those who export waste paper to China
Britain has crafted a new plan to improve the quality of its exports of waste paper to China in response to recent Chinese bans.
The new quality-control initiative was developed by the UK Recycling Association and the Chinese Certification and Inspection Group in London.
The plan involves inspections at depots to ensure that scrap paper destined for China meets specifications. Because British depots already have existing quality control systems in place, the new plan is optional for UK companies. But companies may choose the additional scrutiny to be certain of avoiding delays and related costs.
Britain used to export millions of metric tons of waste each year to China before the Chinese government stopped accepting imports of certain types of scrap in January on environmental grounds.
Under its new regulations, China banned certain kinds of waste plastic and paper, and also reduced the threshold for contaminants in shipments of recycled material.
At the end of this month five regional seminars will be held for British exporters, delineating which types of scrap paper will be accepted.
“UK material has seen a huge improvement to meet the quality standards set by the Chinese government,” said Huang Shouyun, London managing director of China Certification and Inspection Group, the agency accredited by the Chinese government to inspect material for export bound for the country.
“This new quality control plan will meet the Chinese inspection requirements while maintaining high-quality fiber exports to China,” he said.
Simon Ellin, CEO of the recycling association, said: “The partnership with CCIC London to develop this quality-control system is proving the UK commitment to highquality fiber exports. This system will prove to be beneficial to exporters in ensuring their material meets the rules of the export destination.”
The UK exports around half of the 5 million tons of scrap paper and cardboard it collects each year, and China is the main recipient. Before the Chinese ban on certain types of mixed paper imports, Britain exported 1.4 million tons of paper and cardboard to China each year.
Between 2012 and 2017, Britain exported 2.7 million tons of plastic to China, according to estimates from Greenpeace. Since the ban, British exports of scrap plastic to China have fallen by 98.3 percent, according to UK government data.