China’s recent ban on plastic waste imports is beginning to impact countries around Asia, as scrap is being diverted to other destinations.

The knock-on effect is particularly hitting South-east Asian countries, such as Malaysia and Vietnam. Although the general opinion is that tonnes of plastic will end up in landfill, as their is effectively nowhere else for it to go.

South-east Asia Ports have come under pressure from a backlog of scrap cargo following China’s crackdown. In Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, one port was forced to stop receiving plastic and paper waste as up to 8,000 TEU remained uncollected.

Reports in The Loadstar suggest that containers were being routed via Vietnam and then smuggled via road into China. This is believed to have contributed to the backlog as not all of the containers were able to move.

Until the recent ban, China had been the biggest destination for scrap and were importing up to half of the world’s plastic waste. However, January’s ban was expanded upon in April, which has now left worldwide scrap exporters desperately trying to find alternative buyers.

Uniserve Group have a specialist department servicing the Scrap and Waste industry, which combined with our global management team means we are ideally positioned to support waste exporters having difficulties with overseas markets.

For more information on our specialist industry service, or to find out more about how Uniserve can add value to your global supply chain, please email info@ugroup.co.uk or call 01375 856060.

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