China effectively curbs solid waste smuggling
By Yang Zekun | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2023-07-14 17:54
Anti-smuggling departments nationwide have found and verified 6.6 million metric tons of banned solid waste during the past seven years and relevant violations have been effectively curbed, said Sun Zhijie, head of the Anti-Smuggling Bureau of the General Administration of Customs, on Friday.
The State gradually reduced the amount of solid waste import licenses since 2017 and completely banned importing solid waste in 2021. After a sustained crackdown over those years, the high trend of smuggling solid waste has been contained and relevant cases have also declined significantly every year, he said.
Those banned wastes often contain harmful substances, including pathogenic bacteria, and the processing of them could also cause irreversible pollution to soil, water and air, endangering the physical and mental health of the people, he said.
Sun said that anti-smuggling departments have carried out special crackdown operations against activities of smuggling banned solid waste via the ways of concealment, false declarations, using fake certificates and circumvention of customs' inspection for seven consecutive years.
Anti-smuggling departments across the country have investigated 1,978 criminal cases of solid waste smuggling since 2017, according to the bureau.
The Ministry of Public Security, the General Administration of Customs, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate also worked together to establish a joint working mechanism and issued a notice urging suspects involved in smuggling banned solid waste to surrender. By now 56 people have surrendered from overseas, he said.
"China's anti-smuggling authorities also promote international law enforcement cooperation against smuggling, and the establishment and improvement of the global long-term mechanism for combating solid waste smuggling proposed by China has been steadily advanced and has also received positive responses from countries around the world," he said.
The anti-smuggling authorities will maintain a strict crackdown on any violations related to smuggling banned solid waste, perfect the prevention mechanism and work closely with other countries to block these waste outside the country, he said.
