China said on Thursday it will still allow imports of some kinds of steel and non-ferrous scrap as the world's largest commodities consumer outlined the first concrete details of its plan to curb waste imports as part of its war on pollution. The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) published a list of banned waste imports that excluded some scrap metals - such as steel, copper, nickel, aluminium, zinc and tin - from the restriction.
The MEP listed steel, copper and aluminium scrap from automobiles, ships and electronic devices under the "limited import" category. It did not clarify what limited means. Mining waste containing non-ferrous metals, though, will be banned from imports, since China has sufficient domestic resources, the MEP said.
Starting from August, the MEP will carry out inspections in the coming five months targeting the recycling of old electronic devices, tyres, plastic, cloth and home appliances, including collecting stations and processing factories, the ministry said in a separate statement on Wednesday. "The current recycle system in China is insufficient to meet the demand from waste processing industry," said Qiu Qiwen, director at the Soil Environment Management Department of the MEP in the statement.
"The inspections will help to eliminate excess capacity and improve the infrastructure of the recycling industry," Qiu said. China recycled 151.3 million tonnes of steel and 9.37 million tonnes of non-ferrous metals in 2016, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed in May.
Scrap metals are normally put into smelters with other raw material to make new metal products. Last year, the country imported 2.16 million tonnes of scrap steel and 5.28 million tonnes of scrap copper, aluminium and zinc. In mid-July, China - the world's top scrap metals importer - notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it would stop accepting imports of waste, including paper and textiles.
The domestic metals industry had worried the ban would also include steel and copper scrap, crucial raw materials used by mills and fabricators. Items that will be completely prohibited from imports include tyres, textiles, plastic, glass and old medicines, as disclosed in a filing to the WTO. The MEP said the import ban will take effect as early as the end of 2017.