Amid the brewing trade war between China and the US, the Chinese customs authorities in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province blocked 469 tonnes of solid waste and asked the companies involved to return the cargo.
As per a report by Chinese news agency Xinhua, inspectors found the shipment consisting of scrap paper mixed with waste metal parts and used drinking bottles.
Chinese regulations mandate that shipments containing solid waste should be banned from import. In order to reduce environmental pollution, the Chinese regulators have banned imports of 24 types of solid waste since late 2017.
The customs officials have asked the companies who imported the waste to return as soon as possible.
DATA STORY: Every year India loses gold worth Rs 6,347 crore as part of e-waste
Incidentally, India also acts as a dumping yard for the e-waste produced in the developed countries. Delhi alone receives around 10,000 metric tonnes of e-waste every day, according to a report by Assocham.
That means, each year 3.65 million metric tonnes of e-waste is imported in Delhi alone. Asscocham estimates that 85 percent of waste generated in the developed world lands up in Delhi.
Apart from Delhi, there are other major centres in the country where e-waste is dumped. They include Ahmedabad, Chennai, Mumbai, among others.
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