China said on it would still allow imports of some kinds of steel and non-ferrous scrap, as the country outlined the first concrete details of its plan to curb waste imports.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection published a list of ‘banned’ waste imports which excluded some scrap metals from the restrictions.
The ministry included steel, copper and aluminium scrap from cars, ships and electronic devices in the “limited import” category. It did not clarify what limited means.
But mining waste containing non-ferrous metals, will be banned from imports as China has sufficient domestic resources. China – the world’s top scrap metals importer – notified the World Trade Organisation last month that it intended to stop accepting imports of waste, including paper and textiles.