Plastic bags piling up as China bans waste imports

By Meghan Groff

Plastic bags are piling up in a Halifax recycling facility.

Matt Keliher, Halifax's solid waste manager, said a change of policy in China has resulted in the country banning the import of waste from other countries starting in 2018.

Keliher said, with the world's largest market for waste closing its door, it's putting stress on a number of regions around the world, including Nova Scotia.

“For our paper, cardboard and plastic, over 80 per cent of the material collected within our curbside collection program has been exported to China to use,” he explained. “In terms of dollar values, we generate around $2.1 million in revenue from the sale of our materials, and $1.6 million of that comes from China.”

He added China has been bringing in 50 per cent of the world's plastic to be recycled, and over 50 per cent of the world's paper products.

Keliher said over 70 per cent of the recycled material by weight in the Halifax Regional Municipality is paper and cardboard, which is a highly sought-after commodity, but they're stuck when it comes to finding a place for film plastics, like grocery bags and bread bags.

“Our facility is at capacity and we're at a health and safety concern level with the amount of film plastic at the site, he said. “The last thing we want is it replicate what has happened in a number of jurisdictions where this material catches on fire.”

The whole point of recycling is to keep these products out of landfills, but Keliher said that may be their only option at this point.

“Based on our assessment, the material that's been sitting on site for a few months does not have an end market and would need to be landfilled.”

He said they're prohibited from doing that. An application has been filed with Nova Scotia's Environment Department to get an exemption, but he's been told there won't be a decision until early next year.

That may not be soon enough, Keliher said with Christmas coming up, more material than normal will be coming in.

“If we don't have adequate space to store that material, to manage the site, it will just be chaos for our operation,” he said. “Moving it offsite is becoming imperative for the continued operation of the recycling system in Halifax.”

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