Today (7 July) the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling commented that via its contacts in China, the country’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment has confirmed China “will be banning the import of solid waste as from 2021 and therefore will no longer accept and approve import applications for solid waste”.
The organisation noted that a newly revised “Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes” has been announced and come into force on September 1, clarifying the legal requirements for the identification of attributes of imported goods suspected of solid wastes. China has been an important destination for recovered paper and some metals and in the past, plastics. Now exports are reducing with the paper sector in particular growing stronger in south east Asian states.
The final version of the new legislation restricting solid waste imports to China and as to whether some waste might be reclassified as a product is yet to emerge. Already, however, at least two specific metal grades have been deemed as product and will be allowed in. The question remains as to whether any waste paper will be allowed in after 2020 through giving specific grades, such as unsold newspapers or unused cardboard trimmings from cardboard box plants, although this is generally seen as unlikely.
Source: Let’s Recycle
Finnish site 
Global site