Illegally shipping rubbish to the mainland is now a felony under amendments to the Criminal Law.
Authorities warned that under regulations that became law yesterday, exporters convicted of wrongfully shipping foreign waste into the country faced automatic jail terms on a charge of 'jeopardising the environment'.
Beijing said the measures were aimed at 'greedy traders who think they can flout the law'.
Previously, scrap dealers convicted of importing rubbish without a permit were subject to fines of up to one million yuan (HK$934,000), although at least one trader was jailed for dumping foreign waste in Shanghai.
'Traders have tried in vain to import harmful waste,' the State Administration of Import and Export Commodity Inspection said in a public notice.
Mainland politicians demanded the mandatory jail terms after accusing the US, Canada and Russia of 'using China as a dumping site for solid waste', according to the National Environmental Protection Agency.
