For the United States and Europe, it is essentially cheaper to send reusable waste to be recycled in China than in their own countries. Since the United States and Europe are importing more goods from China than they export, most of the ships conveniently can be loaded with waste materials when they return to China. Since it is extremely costly for recyclable waste materials such as paper to be source separated and recycled in developed western countries, they are often shipped to the Asian countries where the processing and labor costs are significantly cheaper. Much of American waste paper is shipped off to China, where companies like Nine Dragons Paper recycle it to make the cardboard that would be used to package goods exported back to the United States.
Compared to the recycling companies in the United States and Europe, China can buy the waste paper at a higher price and recycle it into paperboard at a lower cost. The recycling companies in the developed western world just cannot compete with the Chinese companies. The prices they offer for waste paper cannot compare with the Chinese prices, which is why China is often identified as the destination for waste paper.
Nonetheless, this seems like a good system in which almost everyone wins. Trash is being diverted from entering the landfill and recreated into something usable. The companies selling the waste paper are profiting. China, which is buying the waste paper and recreating it into paper packaging, sells it back to the United States and Europe and is also profiting. But now with the global recession, everyone ends up losing. China is not buying as much as it used to simply because China does not need to anymore as people are consuming less and the selling price of the waste paper is continuously dropping – so much that those recycling companies would actually be losing money if they continued with business.
Some recycling companies like Allan Company in Western California are responding to this situation by increasing its warehouse size to accommodate the incoming scrap paper in hopes that prices would return to normal. People are consuming fewer goods that China would usually package with the waste paper it receives from the United States. As a result, China's demand for waste paper has decreased as well, thus leaving Allan Company the tough decision to hold onto the scrap paper and wait.
Since it just sits in limbo now with no place to go, the waste paper would tend to head towards the landfill as it is just more economical that way. Without a demand and a continuous supply of the paper, it will just end up being treated like the rest of the incoming garbage. However, that would also be seen as an environmentally irresponsible and unacceptable option.
In places like the United States and Europe, recycling and source separating is expensive. They require manual labor or state-of-the-art technology – both of which cost more than merely sending waste to the landfills as a lot of financial investment goes into materials recovery facilities (MRFs). However, societies' dependence on landfills is also a growing problem. As landfills are filling up, cities have to seek for alternatives on how to handle the trash. Some are looking for additional landfills that are located further away from the city, while others are turning towards more sustainable solutions.
This is the point where recycling becomes important and absolutely necessary. With landfills reaching capacity and communities opting for more sustainable systems, recycling seems to be the most natural choice. However, a majority of people are reluctant to do it either because they feel that it is pointless or they do not want to put in the extra effort. But something needs to be done about it and soon.
Reducing consumption is key when it comes to dealing with modern waste issues. But since we will always be consumers, the next logical step would be to recycle – and recycling should be mandatory. Mandatory recycling not only helps solve the landfill problem, but it can also contribute to more business such as with the waste paper business. However, sorting the various recyclables (plastics, metals, paper, etc.) cost money. On top of that, sorting the different types of paper (usable and non-usable) would cost even more. China will not take the waste paper if it is not sorted. But companies and local governments cannot afford to source separate the trash before shipment, and now the value of the scrap paper is dropping closer and closer to zero with the current financial situation. The recession does not allow waste paper to be a feasible investment.
China has been taking waste paper from the United States and Europe because they essentially have recycling programs in place. It is difficult for Asian countries, where density levels are extremely high, to enact effective recycling programs. We cannot just rely on the developed western countries to pave the way for sustainability. Asia needs to find a way to align its goals with these other leading countries and it can definitely start by recycling its own waste paper. |
