中國禁止進(jìn)口洋垃圾打擊廢品處理行業(yè)

For years the smell of melted plastic permeated the Chinese village of Luwang, where dozens of workshops processed imported waste. Now the village is eerily quiet and relatively odourless, caught up in a crackdown on recycling of imported plastic that is causing waste to pile up at ports in the US and Europe.

多年來，中國山東省的路旺村里一直彌漫著塑料熔化的氣味，這里曾經(jīng)聚集了眾多加工進(jìn)口廢塑料的作坊。因為當(dāng)局對回收利用進(jìn)口塑料行業(yè)的打擊，路旺村如今變得異常安靜，刺鼻的氣味也沒那么重了。此次打擊還導(dǎo)致塑料垃圾在美國和歐洲的港口堆積成山。

“We used to import plastic rubbish from Britain . . . but now customs won’t let it in,” said Zheng Min, who was guarding the village’s government office in east China’s Shandong province. Government inspectors swept through the village last May, he added, shuttering its recycling companies.

看守村委會辦公室的鄭敏(音譯)說：“我們過去一直從英國進(jìn)口塑料垃圾……但現(xiàn)在海關(guān)不放行了。”他還表示，去年5月，政府檢查人員搜查了整個村子，關(guān)閉了這里的回收公司。

“All our development has been dependent on plastic. Some people made millions from recycling and developed large companies. Now it’s all gone. I never expected the government to take such measures,” he added.

“我們所有的發(fā)展都依靠塑料。有些人靠回收垃圾賺了好幾百萬，開起了大公司?，F(xiàn)在都化為烏有了。我從沒想到政府會采取這樣的措施。”他補(bǔ)充說。

This month China began enforcing rules banning the import of 24 grades of solid waste, including mixed paper and plastics. The country imported more than 7m tonnes of plastic scrap in 2016, according to the China Scrap Plastic Association, accounting for more than half of all the waste plastic exported globally that year.

中國從本月起開始實施禁止進(jìn)口包括未經(jīng)分揀的廢紙、廢塑料在內(nèi)的24種固體廢物的規(guī)定。根據(jù)中國廢塑料協(xié)會(CSPA)的數(shù)據(jù)，2016年中國進(jìn)口了700多萬噸塑料廢物，占當(dāng)年全球廢塑料出口的一半以上。

Due to a lack of recycling capacity, “low-end plastic items still have no alternative outlet other than landfills and incineration in [many] exporting countries”, said CSPA president Steve Wong in a statement.

中國廢塑料協(xié)會會長黃楚祺(Steve Wong)在一份聲明中表示，由于缺乏回收能力，在許多出口國家，低端塑料廢物除了填埋和焚燒以外仍然沒有其他處理辦法。

Britain alone has shipped 2.7m tonnes of plastic waste to China since 2012, according to Greenpeace, the environmental campaign group, with British officials admitting that there was no alternative market for such a high volume of waste.

環(huán)保組織綠色和平(Greenpeace)的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，自2012年以來，僅英國就向中國輸送了270萬噸塑料廢物。英國官員承認(rèn)，沒有其他市場能夠接收如此巨大數(shù)量的廢塑料。

Some US companies would have no choice but to let waste pile up in American warehouses or car parks because alternative markets for recyclables such as Indonesia were still “nascent”, said the US National Waste & Recycling Association, a trade group.

行業(yè)組織美國全國廢物回收協(xié)會(US National waste & Recycling Association)表示，一些美國企業(yè)別無選擇，只能讓廢品堆積在美國的倉庫或停車場，因為印度尼西亞等可替代的回收市場“剛起步”。

The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery said about a third of the recyclables collected in the state had been exported to foreign markets, with most going to China.

加州資源回收局表示，該州產(chǎn)生的可回收廢品中，約三分之一出口到了國外市場，其中大部分到了中國。

The ban on imports and the closure of small plastic processors in places such as Luwang is a reflection of Beijing’s harder line on pollution, and the fact China is generating more plastic waste itself, reducing the need for imports.

中國禁止進(jìn)口塑料廢物并關(guān)停路旺村等地小型塑料加工作坊的舉措，反映了北京方面在治理污染上的強(qiáng)硬態(tài)度，同時也反映了中國國內(nèi)正在產(chǎn)生越來越多的塑料廢物，減少了對進(jìn)口的需求。

But domestic waste comprises only a quarter of recycled inputs to China’s domestic plastic industry, meaning companies will face a shortfall in supply, potentially pushing up prices, according to the CSPA. As a result China’s larger recycling companies are in the process of moving production to south-east Asia.

但中國廢塑料協(xié)會的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，中國塑料行業(yè)作為原料的回收塑料中，國內(nèi)產(chǎn)生的塑料廢物僅占四分之一，這意味著相關(guān)企業(yè)將面臨供應(yīng)短缺，可能推高廢塑料價格。因此，中國較大型回收企業(yè)正紛紛將生產(chǎn)轉(zhuǎn)移至東南亞。

In Luwang, described as a “scrap collector’s paradise” in Chinese media and where villagers have been processing waste for three decades, recycling yards lay silent and empty behind locked gates and most working-age locals have left the village.

路旺村被中國媒體形容為“廢品回收者的天堂”，這里的村民處理廢品的歷史達(dá)30年之久。如今，大門緊鎖的回收場院里一片寂靜和空曠，當(dāng)?shù)靥幱趧趧幽挲g的村民多數(shù)都離開了村子。

The local government paid villagers a subsidy worth 30 per cent of the cost of their equipment in return for closing, said Mr Zheng.

鄭敏說，為了讓村民關(guān)閉工廠，當(dāng)?shù)卣虼迕裰Ц读讼喈?dāng)于設(shè)備成本30%的補(bǔ)貼。

“Those who had their own businesses before, now have to leave the village to find paid work. They will earn Rmb2,000-Rmb3,000 ($310-$465) a month, compared with Rmb5,000-Rmb10,000 a month before,” he added.

“那些以前自己辦了企業(yè)的人，現(xiàn)在不得不離開村子去打工。他們現(xiàn)在一個月能掙個兩三千元人民幣(合310到465美元)，而他們以前每月能賺5000到1萬元人民幣。”

Additional reporting by Barney Jopson and Gregory Meyer in New York

巴尼•喬普森(Barney Jopson)、格雷戈里•梅耶(Gregory Meyer)紐約補(bǔ)充報道