Crackdown on waste smuggling a 2019 priority, officials declare

Despite waste imports to China falling almost in half in 2018, the General Administration of Customs said cracking down on smuggling will be a priority this year.

Customs officers across the country investigated 481 criminal cases related to waste smuggling last year, involving about 1.55 million metric tons of garbage, according to the administration. Waste imports dropped 46.5 percent in 2018 from the year before.

During inspections of the 1,155 enterprises with licenses to import plastic waste, the administration found violations in 236. For example, 72 of the companies were suspected of selling their import quotas, according to a China News Service report.