Ministry: China no longer waste dump for developed nations

The time when China was a dumping site for developed countries has gone forever, Huang Runqiu, minister of Ecology and Environment, said on Wednesday.

"China has managed to eliminate solid waste imports at the end of 2020 as scheduled," he told a news conference organized by the State Council Information Office.

The country imported 42.27 million metric tons of waste in 2017. The amount was reduced to only 8.79 million tons in 2020 before it was completely banned, he said.

He said China has in the meantime been ramping up efforts to improve its domestic waste recycling system.

Last year, a total of 370 million tons of waste were recycled across the country, up by 42 percent from 2016, he said.

He stressed that the ministry will make sustained efforts to further enhance domestic recycling while clamping down on waste smuggling.

China started importing solid waste as a source of raw materials in the 1980s. China has been the world's largest importer of solid waste for years.

Rising public awareness of environmental protection and reducing pollution led to a government-backed action plan in 2017 to phase out waste imports.