Plastic recycling processes in industrialized nations pushed to improve
China seeks to end reign as global dumping ground
Despite the fact that Europe is a global leader in plastics recycling and in diverting plastics from landfills by using waste-to-energy programs that convert waste into power generation, Europe, along with many other industrialized regions, recently got another major incentive to increase its recycling effectiveness for plastics—the message that China no longer wants to be the world’s dumping ground for plastic waste, according to research from IHS (ihs.com), the leading global source of critical information and insight.
As a result, says IHS, recyclers in Europe and other countries such as the U.S., Canada, Japan, Brazil, Mexico and Australia, must improve their recycling technology processes as China, once the final destination for more than 70% of the world’s plastic waste, strengthens its ‘green fencing’ regulations to restrict types of plastic waste materials it will accept. China is the world’s largest consumer of recycled plastics, but relies heavily on imports—it imported 10.3 billion metric tons in 2012 according to IHS.