PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2018

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 06/18 www.petpla.net 14 The effects on the PET chain of China’s import ban on plastic waste China stirs up the markets by Gabriele Kosmehl The Chinese fibre industry is the market leading processor of rPET. In the local market, and in the markets of trade partners, the import ban on plastic waste imposed by the Chinese government has been received with mixed feelings. At Chinaplas in Shanghai, PETplanet captured a few opinions about the current situation. For many years, it has been a win-win situation for many: Western countries rid themselves of their plastic waste by shipping their used material to China by the container-load, earn- ing hard cash and sugar-coating their recycling statistics. In turn, China, which has the highest demand for polyester fibres in the world, got its hands easily on millions of tonnes of recyclable plas- tic waste – most recently around seven million tonnes annually – which did not arise in sufficient quantities within China itself. But in the middle of last year, the Chinese government announced a halt to this procedure that had been operating since the 1980s. The halt manifested itself as the import ban that came into force at the beginning of this year. Announced for the end of this year is an enhancement of the ban to include post-industrial scrap plastics including production scraps, off-cuts and regrind. The background to this is the govern- ment’s struggle against industrial envi- ronmental pollution, says the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. In order to cover the demand for PET fibres, for example for the country’s strong textile industry, the country is now relying on the expansion of the recy- cling industry. The funding options made available are benefitting both local and Western companies. In all provinces, recycling centres have been and will be established, and these are equipped with state-of-the-art European and Chinese technologies. “The PET recycling industry is get- ting bigger and bigger. What we are seeing now are many Chinese players with professional equipment but also increasing collaboration between Euro- pean and Chinese companies”, explains Ted Park, Regional Director Asia from Tomra. Kurt Pichlmann, Head of Sales China at Erema confirms this remark. “The government has already invested a great deal and at Erema we are certainly feeling the benefit”, he says. But the Chinese themselves have big players in the market who demonstrate increasing professionalism, have good contacts and applications for the bottle industry.” However, smaller recycling com- panies, who no longer have access to affordable raw materials are threatened with going under as the profit margin on high-end starting products is no longer sufficient for them. Nevertheless, Alan Ou, Senior VP from Boretech sees the trend in a more positive light. “It’s true, all raw mate- rial costs have increased by 10-15%. In Hangzhou City we are operating our own fibre factory. Before the import ban, imported goods made up 80%; due to the new policy, we are now processing 100% local material. But the import ban has initiated some big projects; we have orders from our own country and also RECYCLING S P E C I A L Source: iStockphoto ©Young777