As Chinese markets impose waste restrictions, EDCO officials urge residents to recycle conscientiously

It seems residents will have to closely observe what items get dumped into blue recycling bins now that Asian recycling markets are not accepting contaminated waste, according to EDCO Disposal officials.
A contaminated recyclable item, according to John Snyder, EDCO’s vice president and chief analytics officer, is any non-reusable waste that is tossed into a recycling-only bin. It can be food waste, soiled paper or green waste.
Snyder said that a substantial amount of the recyclables generated in California, including in Signal Hill, are shipped to foreign markets, mostly Asia. Nearly 60 percent of recyclables generated in California are exported to China and other Asian countries, according to an EDCO press release.
For years, nations across the globe shipped waste items to Asia, specifically China. In July, Chinese officials told the World Trade Organization that their country will no longer accept imports of 24 categories of solid waste, as part of a campaign against “foreign garbage.”
Recyclables are treated as commodities, fueled by supply and demand, and the price is valued based on weighted materials— usually per ton.
“For instance, mixed paper, which would once sell for $160 to $170 per ton, is selling today for less than $50 because of the difficulty of moving it, and the lack of demand with China not being in the game anymore,” Snyder said.
According to a 2014 report assembled by the nonprofit International Solid Waste Association, between 2006 and 2012, plastic waste imports in China increased from 5.9 metric tons to 8.9 metric tons— or 19621.1 pounds.
“China, which is the biggest consumer of recyclables in the world, has not only eliminated accepting some types of recyclable materials but also set very low limits on contamination,” Snyder said. “What we have to do now is be really careful when we are sorting the recyclables out. For example, when we are making a barrel of paper, we have to make sure it is almost 99-percent free of anything else but that product.”
China’s implementation of the new recycling standards forces citizens who participate in recycling efforts throughout the state, at home or at work, to be prudent when disposing of items.
“I think the public needs to pay attention as to what goes in the blue container,” he said. “Blue is the international color for a recycling container, and the public needs to be cognizant of what goes into the container. Non-recyclables should not go in with recyclables.”
Snyder said the disposal service company is going to have to slow down the rate at which recycled items are processed to allow workers and operators to comb through the items to ensure recyclable items are clean of contaminants.
“We need to slow down the process, which means it’s going to take more time to process recyclables and ensure that they’re as clean as possible. It’s going to take more people to sort through the material,” he said. “[China] no longer takes mixed paper, so that’s a big deal. They’re still taking cardboard and newspaper, but mixed paper, which is a huge part of the recycling stream, is not being collected anymore. They are setting very strict, very low, contamination thresholds as to what can be in those shipments when they go overseas.”
According to chinadialogue.net, a nonprofit British website that publishes environment-related information about China, the announcement has already caused major changes in the global trade of scrap materials. Some waste companies have become unwilling to risk continuing exports to China because, if shipments are rejected, they will be liable for return shipping costs.
Snyder said he doesn’t believe these sanctions will cause serious problems for EDCO. He said the company is investing in increasing labor to adequately clear recyclables for contamination, and it is also re-educating consumers that use EDCO’s services to better understand what can and cannot be recycled. For example, during the holidays, cooking oils, fats and greases are collected by EDCO’s services.
“Cooking oils are not supposed to go down the drain, and they are not supposed to go in the trash either, so there are drop-off places where you can drop your used cooking oils,” Snyder said. “The responsible thing to do is to take it to a center. They actually make biodiesel out of it, which is a cleaner-burning fuel.”
EDCO’s Director of Communications, Yvette Snyder, indicated in an email to the Signal Tribune that China’s restrictions compel the public to be more aware of the recycling guidelines in their communities, which can vary city to city depending on where their hauler takes recyclables to be processed, and keep any contaminants, like garbage or food waste, out of recycling containers.
As markets around the world adjust to China’s new recycling standards, EDCO’s vice president said the sanctions did not come as a surprise to him and the company.
“Slowly, over time, we were given feedback that the material needs to get better. It’s really not necessarily what EDCO sends or what’s coming from California,” he said. “China is importing from around the entire world, and there are just some recycling programs out there that are not as thorough. It got to the point that they considered that they were getting solid waste sent to them and not recycling.”
International recycling operators are trying to find ways to send recyclables to other nations. EDCO’s vice president said there are other markets, besides China, to which the company can ship material.
“Primarily, paper and plastics are going to Asia. South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore are some of the options of where materials are going,” he said. “We have some markets for plastics that have just surfaced in Turkey.”
John told the Signal Tribune that ultimately the restrictions were put in place by China to reduce its environmental impacts. He said the country was not content with what the world was shipping to its shores.
“There is an environmental movement going on there, and that’s part of what’s driving this,” he said. “They want material, but it needs to be clean.”