Li Ganjie, the Chinese minister of environmental protection, announced that imports of solid waste decreased by 12 percent in 2017 during a press conference. The decrease is in response to China’s National Sword Policy, which was enacted in 2017.
During the press conference, Ganjie also discussed the decades leading up to the import ban and what caused the Chinese government to enact the contamination standards. The decrease in Chinese imports has come alongside a sharp increase in imports for several Southeast Asian countries.
