China must strictly prevent the import of waste tires from abroad

Starting from August 1, the “Administrative Measures for the Import of Solid Wastes” jointly issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, the General Administration of Customs, and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) began formal implementation. The bill clearly stipulates nine items that are prohibited from import, one of which is the prohibition of the import of solid waste that is generated in China or that has a large stockpile and has not yet been fully utilized. The used tires are in full compliance with the prohibition on the import of solid waste.

The national policy on the import of waste tires is strictly prohibited and has been implemented in China for many years. To standardize the management of solid waste imports and prevent the import of solid wastes to pollute the environment, as early as in 1996, the State Environmental Protection Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, the General Administration of Customs, the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, and the State Administration of Commodity Inspection issued joint circular 204; 2008, environmental protection The Ministry, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, the General Administration of Customs, and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine jointly issued the No. 11 Bulletin and the 2009 Announcement No. 36 clearly stipulated that the import of waste tires and their cuts, vulcanized rubber waste, and scraps should be prohibited. Material and powder, various shapes of hard rubber scrap and so on.

Although the state has already stipulated clearly, there are still individuals in the country that encourage the import of used tires from abroad, and smuggling imports have not been banned. Recently, there has been a renewed domestic demand that the state release the import of used tires and cancel the restrictions on the import of waste tires. Therefore, it is not a long-term task to prevent the import of used tires from overseas.

On October 14, 2009, at the symposium on the comprehensive utilization of resources convened by the Department of Environment and Resources of the National Development and Reform Commission, the relevant leaders clearly emphasized in their speeches that China’s comprehensive utilization of resources must stand on the basis of safeguarding national interests and must proceed from the overall situation. The author starts from the healthy development of China's comprehensive utilization of waste rubber and believes that the import of used tires must be strictly prohibited. The reason is as follows:

First, China has a large amount of waste rubber resources, and it should first dispose of domestic waste rubber. China is a tire-producing country and is also a big consumer of tires. In 2010, China produced 443 million tires. According to incomplete statistics, China produces 12 million to 14 million tons of waste rubber every year. At the end of the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan”, the percentage of used tires was increased from 65% in the “fifteen” to 80%; non-tire hoses The utilization rate of other waste rubber products such as motorcycles, electric vehicles, bicycle tires, and rubber shoes also increased from 30% to 60%. With the rapid development of China's economy and automobile industry in recent years, the domestic automobile ownership has reached about 100 million. The annual production of used tires has increased at a rate of 8 to 10%. In 2010, China produced about 256 million waste tires. With a weight of 9.4 million tons, it does not include a large number of scrap rubber tapes, motorcycle tires, electric tires, bicycle tires, rubber shoes, and many other scrap rubber products that are scrapped every year, and its quantity is also several million tons. As a result, millions of tons of waste rubber are scattered in the private sector and are not well recycled.

In addition, according to information from companies in various provinces and cities, due to the benefits of domestic soil refining, earth refining consumes about 20% of domestic waste tires (mainly based on car tyres). Recently, it was learned from media reports that Nanjing alone had ordered 173 enterprises with “three highs and two lows” (high pollution, high energy consumption, high emission, low efficiency, and low output) to stop production. Among them, there are five local oil refining companies in Qinshui County. close the door. If decisive measures are taken across the country, 20% of waste rubber and waste tires will be returned to waste rubber comprehensive utilization enterprises, the number is estimated to be more than 2 million tons, plus 20% of used tires and a large amount of waste rubber, the amount of conservative estimates More than 4 million tons need to be harmlessly used. Therefore, the domestic recycling of waste rubber (including waste tires) has a long way to go. How to implement the "3R" principle of "resources, reduction, harmlessness, and remanufacturing" of used tires has become an urgent problem to be solved.

Second, in line with the national energy-saving emission reduction requirements Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission Xu Xianping, deputy director at the National Energy Conservation Awareness Week pointed out that all regions and departments must follow the requirements of the Central Government, take the scientific development as the theme, and accelerate the transformation of economic development as the main line. Taking the construction of a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society as an important focal point for accelerating the transformation of economic development methods, intensifying relevant efforts, and unswervingly promoting energy-saving and emission-reduction work to ensure that the “12th Five-Year Plan” energy saving and emission reduction targets are achieved.

The waste rubber comprehensive utilization industry in China bears the historical mission of harmless recycling and environmentally friendly use of used tires. In recent years, the waste rubber comprehensive utilization industry has taken the scientific development as its theme, the technology has developed toward safety and environmental protection, the equipment has developed towards energy saving and high efficiency, the scale of industrial vectorization has been developed, and the industry has achieved remarkable achievements in promoting energy conservation and emission reduction. During the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period, the energy consumption of recycled rubber production has increased from 1,200 kWh/t in the “Tenth Five-Year Plan” period to 950 kWh/t in the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period, with an average energy consumption reduction of 20%. The “12th Five-Year Plan” energy consumption reduction target is 760 kWh/t, and the energy consumption is further reduced by 20% on the basis of “Eleventh Five-Year Plan”.

However, due to the waste tire processing formed rubber powder and recycled rubber, is still a low-value recycling products, in the process of processing powder million yuan industrial output value of energy consumption above 1000kWh; renewable rubber million industrial output value of energy consumption is also 1500kWh Above, compared with other industries' products, the comprehensive energy consumption per unit product is still relatively high. Comprehensive assessment of environmental protection, resources, and energy consumption is incumbent on the disposal of used tires in the country, but disposal of off-cycle tires out of the country is not worth the candle. After all, the first attribute of used tires is solid waste, which prohibits the transfer of used tires to China, which can avoid increasing the domestic processing volume and avoiding expensive energy consumption and environmental risks during the processing. Therefore, the import of used tires runs counter to China’s goal of developing a low-carbon economy.

Third, maintaining national environmental security, stabilizing the healthy development of the industry to produce reclaimed rubber, accelerating the direct application of vulcanized rubber powder and rubber particles, increasing the deep processing of reclaimed rubber and rubber powder, and accelerating the development of retreaded tires for large tire companies. Has become a basic pattern of comprehensive utilization of waste rubber with Chinese characteristics. For many years, the reclaimed rubber industry has occupied a very important position in the processing of scrap tires containing waste tires in China. It has become the main method of processing and processing, and rubber powder is the main raw material for the production of recycled rubber.

Since 2011, raw materials, energy, and labor costs in the rubber industry have risen. The prices of natural rubber and synthetic rubber have risen sharply, making it more difficult for companies to make profits. However, the price of rubber powder and recycled rubber after deducting tax adjustment factors has not risen substantially. The reason for this is the low investment threshold in the industry, the simple production process of rubber powder and recycled rubber, and the emergence of rubber powder and reclaimed rubber enterprises. There are currently thousands of companies in the country. enterprise. Due to the blind investment of many small businesses, sales are basically in disorderly vicious competition, and large-scale enterprises are also in a meager profit situation for a long time. At this time, it was suggested that "regenerative rubber companies face operating difficulties, the industry calls for waste tire imports imminent", waste tire imports can really change the reluctant rubber business dilemma? He called for operating difficulties because of the high domestic waste tire raw material prices, and the fact that imports can reduce the prices of used tires. However, have you ever thought that if you really open up a large number of countries to import, from the national interest point of view, domestic and foreign price differences will lead to domestic No one cares about waste tires. How can domestic environmental safety be guaranteed? Judging from the interests of the industry, the large number of low-cost waste tires imported will inevitably lead more people into this industry. A new round of disorderly development will inevitably worsen, affecting the stable and healthy development of the industry; from the perspective of corporate interests, plastic The situation of vicious competition oversupply of powder and reclaimed rubber will intensify, and it will be impossible to maintain and increase the existing sales prices. The situation in which companies face operational difficulties will not change.

From the perspective of the international environment, all countries hope to transfer used tires to other countries. It is only some Chinese who only require the import of used tires to China. From the current case of scrapping used tires to China, it is also a country driven by interest. And Chinese people. If the country’s doors are opened, the price of scrap tires in China will soon be pushed into the world, not only raising the price of international tires in a short period of time, but also quickly introducing waste tyres from the world into China. As a meager profit industry in China, how many companies have their own import channels? Does the so-called import demand really change the situation of the company's operating profit? At that time, it was not possible to increase corporate profits. I am afraid that it is difficult to guarantee the current situation.

In 2009, the United States continued to suffer from the implementation of the special security case for exporting tires to China. At present, the Chinese rubber industry is formulating and implementing plans for the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” from big to strong. At this time, the domestic demand for the lifting of the import of used tires is again required. Failure to comply with China's national conditions is also not conducive to the country's environmental safety, energy conservation and emission reduction, and it is inconsistent with the scientific development of the industry.

The author once again stressed that the first attribute of China's rubber powder and reclaimed rubber production enterprises is to eliminate the environmental pollution caused by domestic waste tires and belong to the environmental protection industry; the second attribute is to effectively dispose of used tires, solid waste, turning waste into treasure, and belongs to Resource recycling industry. As the responsibility of China's waste-waste enterprises, it is necessary to establish a solution to domestic waste rubber (including used tires) instead of taking other country's waste into the country for disposal, making China a waste disposal site in the world. The idea of ​​developing China's circular economy is absurd and does not work.

The import of used tires definitely does more harm than good. Therefore, the development of China's rubber industry, to make up for lack of China's lack of rubber resources, in addition to expanding the domestic natural rubber planting, accelerate the development of adaptation to China's national conditions of the Eucommia rubber, the direct import of natural rubber, the import tariff reduction of natural rubber is far more significant than the import of used tires.