China starts new recycling drive as foreign trash ban widens

A long manufacturing boom has saddled China with millions of tonnes of waste, much of which is buried in sprawling landfill sites or dismantled by hand in polluting backstreet workshops.

China plans to launch 100 new large-scale recycling “bases” by the end of next year, part of a campaign to make better use of its resources after extending a ban on foreign trash imports.

A long manufacturing boom has saddled China with millions of tonnes of waste, much of which is buried in sprawling landfill sites or dismantled by hand in polluting backstreet workshops. It has vowed to tackle the problem by creating fully industrialised recycling bases and cutting off foreign supplies.

“Large volumes of solid waste are already impacting and restricting the high-quality development of the industrial economy,” the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a policy document issued late last week.

It said 50 new “comprehensive utilisation” bases would deal with bulk solid waste and another 50 with industrial waste from sectors such as metals production, coal mining, construction, agriculture and forestry.

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The bases will tackle waste with the biggest public impact, the ministry said, citing shared bicycles, packaging, batteries and solar panels as examples. They will also promote advanced technologies, products and recycling methods, it added.

Projects or companies approved to set up shop in one of these new bases can apply for special government funding, and China will also make use of new financing mechanisms, including green bonds, the document added.