Made in China and the new world of secondary resource recovery

Gregson, N.; Crang, M.

doi:10.1177/0308518x18791175

Made in China and the new world of secondary resource recovery

Gregson, N.; Crang, M.

Authors

Professor Nicola Gregson nicky.gregson@durham.ac.uk
Emeritus Professor

M. Crang

Abstract

On 18 July 2017, the Chinese government informed the World Trade Organization of its intention, by year end, to ban imports of recovered mixed paper, recycled plastic, textiles and vanadium slag. In April 2018, China extended that ban to another 32 categories of used goods and materials, including scrap metal. Another 16 categories are banned from the end of 2020 and new standards applied to others. Suddenly, waste and recycling had catapulted from industries that few cared much about to the top of the agenda of the primary body governing global trade (www.resource-recycling.com – 27 March 2018) and onto the desks of municipalities and governments across the world. Why? Because in 2015 and 2016, the last available official figures show China (often via Hong Kong) imported at least 48.2 and 46.7 million tonnes, respectively, in the customs categories that include the affected wastes (comtrade.un.org).

Citation

Gregson, N., & Crang, M. (2019). Made in China and the new world of secondary resource recovery. Environment and Planning A, 51(4), 1031-1040. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518x18791175

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jul 5, 2018
Online Publication Date	Aug 12, 2018
Publication Date	Jun 1, 2019
Deposit Date	Jul 6, 2018
Publicly Available Date	Jul 6, 2018
Journal	Environment and Planning A
Print ISSN	0308-518X
Electronic ISSN	1472-3409
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	51
Issue	4
Pages	1031-1040
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518x18791175

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Copyright Statement
Gregson, N. & Crang, M. (2019). Made in China and the new world of secondary resource recovery. Environment and Planning A 51(4): 1031-1040. (First Published August 12, 2018) Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.