Country 'will not relax' waste import ban

China will not relax its ban on imports of foreign waste after seeing a rapid decline last year, a senior official said on Thursday.

After the State Council created an action plan in July 2017 to ban imports of solid waste into China, volume declined by 46.5 percent year-on-year to 226.3 million metric tons last year, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

Referring to the ban as a "landmark measure" on the country's path of ecological progress, Qiu Qiwen, head of the ministry's solid waste and chemical management department, said the ministry will continue its efforts to sharply bring down imports, both in volume and variety, and do all it can to meet a target of zero imports by 2020.