Malaysia bans waste imports as Australia battles recycling crisis

Jenjarom, Malaysia: It's the crisis that no one saw coming.

Piles of imported plastic wastes at a closed-down
illegal plastic recycling factory in Jenjarom. Malaysia.

It's more than a year since China announced a crackdown on what types of recycled waste it would accept for recycling.

The "National Sword" policy turned the global market for plastic waste on its head.

For decades, China hoovered up plastic from around the world that needed to be recycled.

But where once it accepted around 50 per cent of the world's plastic waste - much of it from the rich, developed countries like Australia - China is now far more picky about what it is accepting for recycling.

Read the story from The Age by James Massola and Amelia Rosa - “Malaysia bans waste imports as Australia battles recycling crisis.”