Exports of plastic bottle waste crash-land after China ban

Arafat Ara
Exports of Bangladesh's plastic pet bottle flakes skittered to a halt after China banned import of waste materials, insiders said.
The local exporters see the development as a major debacle as nearly 99 per cent of their plastic bottle flakes were shipped to the Chinese market.
The Chinese government announced the ban in July last, which came into force on January 1. The ban bars imports of 24 categories of solid waste, including certain types of plastics, paper and textiles.
Meanwhile, exporters said they were seeking alternative markets to export their plastic bottle flakes to help protect the industry.
Bangladesh exports more than 50,000 tonnes of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottle flakes a year, valued at US$ 25 million.
Of the total, some 99 per cent of the materials would export to China, while the rest to Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
Nazmul Hasan, president of the Bangladesh Pet Flakes Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPFMEA), said that it has built up inventory of a large volume of waste plastic bottle flakes in different factories as they couldn't export to China after December 31.
Exporters' problem compounded as some Chinese importers stopped purchase of the materials ahead of announcement of the ban, he noted.
"Now, we are searching for new destinations and some of our exporters have already shipped their products to India," he said.
He expressed the hope that India could be a potential importing country of Bangladeshi PET bottle flakes in future. About 5,000 to 7,000 tonnes of PET flakes were exported to the neighbouring country in the last two months.
The flakes are mainly used for producing yarn. It is also applied to make different types of products including blanket, net, toys, and pillow.
When asked, the BPFMEA president said high-quality pet bottle flakes were needed to produce yarn, but the quality of Bangladeshi pet flakes is not high.
China would mix the low-quality with high-quality flakes imported from Europe and other developed countries to produce required yarn, he added.
Waste pet bottle import is prohibited in Bangladeshi law, making it impossible for entrepreneurs to establish factories to use local stuff to produce yarn, he added.
"I came to know a few local companies are producing recycled resin from pet flakes. But I don't know the volume they are using," he said.
"So we can't depend on the local market," he added.
Local recycled resins manufacturers, however, said it was possible to convert all plastic bottles waste into resins if they get policy support from the government.
New industries will pop up if they get government support, they said.
Khadem Mahmud Yusuf, managing director of Bangladesh Petrochemical Company Limited (BPCL), said both local use and exports could be possible if they could convert pet waste into resins.
Pet flakes were exported to China without any value addition, the value of which can be doubled by converting the product into resins, he said.
The import dependence on basic raw materials for manufacturing mineral water and beverage bottles and polyester yarn can be reduced by more than 30 per cent by converting bottle wastes into recycled resins, he said.
The BPCL has already exported 150 tonnes of recycled resins to China.
But the government discourages local companies to produce resins as the exporters get 10 per cent cash incentives for the shipment pet bottle flakes, Mr Yusuf said.
The BPCL is now producing more than 400 tonnes of recycled resins from pet bottle waste a month. Production will increase to 700 tonnes by the end of this year, he saidd.
The recycled resins are supplied to nearly 40 companies to produce pet bottles and packaging materials, he added.
Bangladesh imports nearly 142,000 tonnes of pet resins worth more than $ 142 million (minimum price $ 1,000 a tonne) a year for producing pet bottles and synthetic yarn.
Of the total volume, about 88,000 tonnes are bottle- grade and 54,000 tonne textile-grade resins. For many years, China has been the world's top importer of recyclable garbage.
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