Scientists calculate impact China’s ban on plastic waste imports

In 2017, China passed the “National Sword” policy, which permanently bans the import of non-industrial plastic waste as of January 2018. Now, scientists from the University of Georgia (UGA) have calculated the potential global impact of this legislation and how it might affect efforts to reduce the amount of plastic waste entering the environment. Since reporting began in 1992, China has accepted about 106 million metric tons of plastic waste, which accounts for nearly half of the world’s imports. High income countries in EU, Asia and the US account for more than 85% of all global plastic waste exports. An article about the research is published in Science Advances (News Item UGA, 20 June 2018).
Click here for the news item.
Click here for the published article (1.01 MB).
With NVC MERGE (Members-only Environmental Regulations Guide) you can keep up-to-date with the environmental requirements for your packaging. MERGE is exclusively for NVC members and there are no costs involved.
Click here for more information about the NVC Project PUMA: the end of packaging as an environmental issue. You are welcome to join us for the next project meeting on 27 March 2019.

This news item is also included in our monthly overview, the NVC Members-only Update. If you have any questions, please contact us: info@nvc.nl, +31-(0)182-512411.