China publishes it’s standards for non ferrous metals .

The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) recently reported that China published it’s standards for non ferrous metals as: GB/T38470-2019 - for brass; GB/T38471-2019 - for copper; GB/T38472-2019 - for aluminium alloys. The Standardization Administration of China (SAC), the Chinese National Committee of the ISO and IEC, is also drafting a series of GB/T Standards for "Plastics – Recycled Plastics" that will include PE, PP, mixed Polyolefins, ABS, PS, PC, PA, PET, PBT, PVC and PMMA. These new standards have been developed to prohibit waste entering China but fulfil its industries needs for quality raw materials.

BIR also reported that it had learned that the Standardisation Administration of China (SAC) is drafting GB/T Standards for iron and steel, i.e. iron and steel secondary raw materials that have been mechanically recycled.

These Chinese Standards set very high quality standards for secondary raw materials. They have the same ultimate purpose of distinguishing between unprocessed “waste and scrap” and “mechanically recycled” secondary raw materials as the European Regulations for: Iron and Steel, Aluminium and Aluminium Alloys (Council Regulation (EU) N°333/2011), Copper (Commission Regulation (EU) N° 715/2013 ) and Glass Cullet (Commission Regulation (EU) No 1179/2012.)

For these regulations and standards to be legitimized, it is important that the framework legislation in the United Nations Basel Convention, inter alia, explicitly recognises that recycling of organics, of metals and of other inorganic materials is through ‘mechanical recycling’, as well as other technologies and techniques.

Sept 2020