Import of foreign garbage decreases

The minister of China's top environment watchdog vowed to further crack down on waste smuggling and accelerate legal changes to strengthen management, as waste imports to the country decreased by over 50 percent this year.

As of Nov 15, the country imported about 18.6 million metric tons of solid waste, Li Ganjie, also head of a cross-ministry team for reforming waste import management, said in a meeting of the team on Thursday.

It's the first meeting of the group, said a media release from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.