Signs of a COVID-19 Waste Crisis... Cho Myung-rae "Pursuing Restrictions on Plastic Waste Imports"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The government will implement measures to ban the import of waste materials that can be procured domestically in order to prevent a waste crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the afternoon of the 20th, Minister of Environment Cho Myung-rae held an environmental policy briefing with newspaper department heads at the Korea Press Center and announced this plan.

Recently, as international oil prices fell due to COVID-19, the competitiveness of recycled plastic raw materials declined, causing a sharp drop in sales of PET recycled raw materials, which heavily depend on overseas exports.

The sales volume of PET recycled raw materials by recycling companies decreased by about 46%, from an average of 16,855 tons between January and March to 9,116 tons last month. As inventory increased, there are concerns about market rigidity spreading through the sorting and collection stages in the distribution structure of recyclable waste.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Environment plans to restrict imports starting with waste plastics such as PET, where congestion has worsened, to increase demand for raw materials that can be procured domestically. For other waste plastic items, the ministry will review their impact on the domestic market and gradually push for import bans.

Currently, the Ministry of Environment is monitoring all stages from waste plastic collection to recycling. Last month, a price linkage system reflecting the 39.2% drop in recycling product prices was implemented in contracts between apartment complexes and collection companies.

To support liquidity in the recycling industry, 163.4 billion KRW of recycling industry promotion loan funds have been disbursed early, and 10,000 tons of plastic recycled raw materials are being stockpiled publicly.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The public stockpile is managed by the Korea Circular Resource Distribution Center, which pre-purchases materials at half the market price, stores them in idle land or private rental sites, and resells them to companies at the same price by the end of the year. This is expected to contribute to securing liquidity for the recycling industry and smoothing the distribution flow of recyclable materials.

The Ministry of Environment recently surveyed demand for polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) recycled raw materials and plans to promote public stockpiling from the end of this month if necessary.

Efforts are also being made to discover new demand sources to revitalize the recycling market. When public institutions and local governments build social overhead capital (SOC) in the environmental sector, they are considering increasing the use of recycled raw materials by purchasing construction materials and tree protection boards made from plastic recycled raw materials.

Additionally, incentives will be established to reduce the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) fees for producers using recycled raw materials. The ministry is also considering providing differentiated recycling subsidies to sorting and recycling companies based on the quality and recycling applications of recycled raw materials.

In the mid to long term, the collection and sorting system for recyclable waste will be shifted to a public-centered model, and institutional improvements will be pursued to increase public procurement of recycled products.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.