China launches fresh campaign against trash smuggling

China launched a fresh crackdown on Tuesday against trash smuggling from overseas in Beijing’s latest move to curtail the inflow of foreign rubbish and strengthen its “war on pollution”.

China’s customs administration announced the effort on its Weibo social media feed, but provided no details other than to say the campaign would be “huge”.

The effort comes at a time when the authorities around China have been intensifying actions against illegal trash imports as part of nationwide plans to clean up the environment and move the economy up the global value chain.

China told the World Trade Organisation last year it would stop accepting imports of 24 types of foreign waste by the end of the year and that it would phase out shipments of other waste products, including those readily available from domestic sources, by the end of 2019.

The move has thrown the global recycling industry into turmoil and left domestic recyclers to cope with raw material shortages.