China will ban imports of 24 types of solid waste, or foreign garbage, by the end of 2017 to fight against environmental degradation and pollution. China has notified the World Trade Organization of the ban, which covers waste plastics, unsorted scrap paper, discarded textiles, vanadium slag and other kinds of waste, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) announced at a press conference on July 20.

In the past decades, some imported solid waste has been useful as raw materials because China lacked production materials. With the economic and social development of China and people’s rising attention to environmental protection as well as public health, the fact that foreign garbage causes serious contamination to soil and water and threatens public health has become increasingly unbearable.

In recent years, China has handled several cases of foreign garbage being smuggled into the country. In June 2010, southwest China’s Chongqing cracked down on a smuggling case involving 11 tons of electronics waste. This was evidence that solid waste was being transferred from developed coastal regions to inland regions. So far, China is still the largest solid waste importer, importing 56 percent of the world’s total annually. In 2013, Britain admitted that 12 million tons of so-called “green garbage” was shipped to developing countries like China, India and Indonesia.

China being a landfill for the world’s garbage doesn’t match its development level or conform to the requirements of building a moderately prosperous society. Early in April, a reform plan on improving management of solid waste imports was adopted, a prelude to the announcement of the import ban of foreign garbage. In order to seek green development, China should say no to foreign garbage.

(This is an edited excerpt of an article published in Qianjiang Evening News on July 21)