China notified the World Trade Organization on Tuesday it will ban the import of 24 different types of solid waste shipments by the end of this year, Reuters reported.

 

路透社报道，中国周二向世界贸易组织发出通知，将于今年年底前禁止金纽扣24种不同的固体垃圾。

 

The import ban, which will go into effect at the end of 2017, includes plastics, slag¹ from steelmaking, vanadium slag, unsorted scrap² paper and discarded textile materials. According to China's WTO filing, the list has been adjusted to protect the country's environment and the public's health.

 

"The move shows that the government is stepping up the fight against pollution and environmental degradation³ as decades of fast growth have caused the country to be saddled with polluted air, and contaminated soil and water," said Xue Rongjiu, deputy director of the Beijing-based China Society for World Trade Organization Studies.

 

China has been importing large amounts of plastic waste as raw materials for industrial production. In 2016, China imported 7.3 million metric tons of plastic waste worth $3.7 billion, accounting⁴ for more than half of global imports, according to data from the Ministry⁵ of Environmental Protection.

 

He Jingtong, a professor of trade at Nankai University in Tianjin, said China is sending a clear signal to the WTO that the country no longer wishes to import foreign garbage and it is determined⁶ to crack down on all types of criminal activities.

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