中国本月起禁止进口“洋垃圾”，欧美国家措手不及

Great Britain, a major waste exporter, has been shipping about half a million tons of plastic to China every year. That ended this year. In a measure that took effect on December 31, China banned imports of 24 types of solid waste including waste plastics, unsorted scrap paper, discarded textiles and vanadium slag. China will also ban imports of solid waste that can be replaced by domestic resources by the end of 2019.

英国，一个主要的废物出口国，每年向中国运送大约50万吨塑料。而这种情况在今年结束。在12月31日生效的一项措施中，中国禁止进口包括废塑料、未分类废纸、废弃纺织品和钒渣在内的24种固体废物。截至2019年底，中国还将禁止进口可被国内资源代替的固体废物。

The move dealt a blow to foreign waste exporters. Britain has relied heavily on China for relocation of its waste and pollution as the country lacks sufficient recycling and waste processing facilities of its own. The ban will likely lead to the stockpiling of plastic waste and mean more incineration and landfill, posing harm to its environment.

此举对外国废物出口商造成了打击。由于英国缺乏足够的回收和垃圾处理设施，英国严重依赖于向中国出口垃圾和污染。这项禁令可能会导致英国塑料垃圾堆积，并意味着更多的焚化和填埋，对环境造成危害。

For the US, another mass trash exporter that sent about $5.2 billion worth of scrap metal, paper and plastic to China in 2016, the ban will affect the US-based multi-billion-dollar recycling industry and result in losses of tens of thousands of jobs and the closure of many businesses in the country.

对于美国,另一个大规模垃圾出口国,2016年向中国出口了价值约52亿美元的废金属,纸张和塑料,这一禁令将影响基于美国的数十亿美元回收工业，并导致数以万计的就业岗位减少和许多企业倒闭。

Despite having gained remarkable momentum in its economic development, China has paid a heavy price through environmental degradation and health problems posed by the improper recycling of imported waste which is often dirty, poorly sorted or contaminated with hazardous substances. Some companies in and outside China have also smuggled foreign waste of no recycling value for profit, creating environmental and public health hazards.

尽管中国在经济发展方面取得了显著的发展成就，但中国在环境恶化和卫生问题上付出了沉重的代价，这些问题是由进口垃圾的不当回收造成的，而这些废物往往是肮脏的、未经分拣或已被有害物质污染过的。中国和国外的一些公司也通过走私垃圾来获取利润，对环境和公共健康产生巨大危害。

China’s economy has been transitioning from rapid growth to high-quality development and pursuing modernization characterized by harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature. Against this backdrop, the country has ramped up efforts to stop being a dumping ground for solid waste and make the Chinese economy more environmentally-friendly.

中国经济从快速发展转型至高质量发展，追求以人与自然和谐相处为特征的现代化建设。在此背景下，中国加大力度治理固体废物倾倒，停止成为垃圾回收站的命运，并努力使中国的经济发展更加环保。

As waste recycling is profitable and China suffers from a supervision and regulation deficit, relevant authorities should work together to gradually reduce the categories and amounts of solid waste arriving from foreign shores. Laws, regulations and related systems need to be improved to crack down on the smuggling, purchasing, reselling and illegal processing of imported waste to ensure that all violators involved are held accountable.

由于废物回收有利可图，而中国也受到监管和管制缺陷的危害，有关当局应该共同努力，逐步减少来自外国的固体废物的种类和数量。中国需要改进法律、法规和有关制度，打击走私、购买、转售和非法加工进口废物，确保所有涉事违反者都得到惩治。

China’s domestic recycling industry should upgrade its technology and standards. On the one hand, China should raise its safe recycling rate to recycle more of its own waste. On the other, the waste recycling sector needs to use more primary raw materials to replace foreign recycled waste.

中国国内回收业应该提高技术和标准。一方面，中国应该提高安全回收利用率来回收更多国内垃圾。另一方面，废物回收部门需要使用更多的初级原料来代替国外的回收废物。

International cooperation should be given high priority to address waste collection and distribution. Some Western powers need to abandon their beggar-thy-neighbor mentality and stop passing the buck by taking advantage of often-lax environmental oversight in developing countries in the name of boosting business ties with them.

中国应高度重视国际合作以解决垃圾收集和分配问题。一些西方国家需要放弃他们的“以邻为壑”的心态，停止以促进商业联系的名义，利用松散的环境监督向发展中国家出口垃圾并推卸责任。

With state-of-the-art technology and rich experience in processing solid waste, major developed powers should take more responsibility in this regard and ratchet up joint studies with developing nations on some thorny issues plaguing the recyclable waste field, such as how to deal with the toxic chemicals and heavy metals of electronic waste, how to mitigate the negative impacts of nuclear waste on the environment and public health and how to develop more advanced technologies and facilities into a coherent plan for the recycling industry.

拥有在处理固体废物方面最先进的技术和丰富经验的主要发达国家，在这方面应该承担更多的责任，加强与发展中国家共同研究可回收物方面的棘手问题,比如如何处理电子垃圾的有毒化学物质和重金属,如何减少核废料对环境和公共卫生的负面影响，以及如何开发更先进的技术和设备，为回收行业制定一个连贯的计划。

An international anti-smuggling mechanism on returning garbage should be established with joint efforts of institutions like the UN, Interpol and the World Customs Organization.

在联合国、国际刑警组织和世界海关组织等机构的共同努力下，应当建立一套关于打回出口垃圾的国际反走私机制。