Beyond the Import Ban: Will China Tackle Its Waste Crisis?

Abstract

Abstract The exponential growth of solid wastes in China has besieged its cities and villages, causing contamination of the land, water, and air and threatening public health and environmental safety. Efforts to expand safe disposal capacity by landfill and incineration have failed to catch up with the speed of waste increase. To tackle the looming waste crisis, China is shifting the focus of waste management from final disposal to waste prevention and reduction and waste to resource transformation by reuse, recycling, and recovery. This article analyses China’s waste management 2.0 under the revised Law on the Prevention and Control of Pollution by Solid Wastes and examines key regulatory initiatives including the waste import ban, the plastic ban, the extended producer responsibility scheme, and the compulsory waste-sorting program, which target the sources of waste generation. It further discusses the challenges ahead and criticizes the gaps in implementation of the municipal solid waste levy reform, green consumption, and the management of construction waste and rural waste.