Contaminated imports from the US and Europe

also from Japan

Shanghai Scrap gets rightfully annoyed by all the news of bad Chinese products, while the world forgets the container-loads of contaminated garbage China receives from the US, Europe and Japan.

For almost five years I have covered the Chinese scrap trade, and in the course of visiting Chinese ports and scrap facilities, I have seen American scrap shipments contaminated with medical waste, household garbage, dead animals, sludge, mud, and other items not included on the shipping manifest. And these are just the shipments that DON’T contain e-waste. All of this occurs despite China’s strict laws on waste imports – many of which were implemented in reaction to American exports of hazardous materials to China.