When the world's dung-hill shuts down

[airiefairie]

Something unexpected is happening with China. The Asian giant has gradually taken an increasingly active "green" role at the international stage. For decades, the other countries have been dumping their garbage their (the US Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries reports that 31% of its scrap exports have gone to China in 2017). But this practice is about to end. Earlier this year China banned the import of 24 types of garbage, including some types of plastic and paper, and two months ago they expanded the measures to dozens of types of recyclable materials, scrap steel among them, and also used car parts and ship components.

All of this has caused quite a turmoil among the global scrap industry. In the meantime, though, it also provides an opportunity for rethinking the global approach to garbage.

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