The paper chain

Mainland China’s bans on imports of “foreign rubbish”, threaten to crush the waste paper supply chain and cause cardboard to pile up in Hong Kong.

About 80,000 tonnes of waste paper is collected each month from Hong Kong streets, almost all of it exported to the mainland. But now the mainland has banned imports of the stuff.

The Hong Kong government has been warned that the ban could cause a huge backlog of waste paper in the city, which also re-exports paper from South Korea, the United States and Britain.

Last year 816,500 tonnes of waste paper was sent offshore, more than 95 per cent of it to mainland Chinese recyclers. The rest was distributed among more than ten countries.