RPC

[BobGe]

I have never been able to see how there could be any economic advantage in sending our plastic waste to China.

Supply and demand, lower sorting and processing cost and the turnaround of shipping containers.

[Bouleversee]

I have never been able to see how there could be any economic advantage in sending our plastic waste to China.

Supply and demand, lower sorting and processing cost and the turnaround of shipping containers.

I presume you mean that the containers which supply all the cheap (and often shoddy) goods to the UK could be used for transporting our waste to China but I should have thought the freight costs would still be high, though you are obviously better informed than I am. So what's going to be in those containers now that the Chinese have banned our plastics? Perhaps we could supply some better quality products for the increasingly wealthy and discriminating Chinese or just start making more of our own stuff and import less of theirs. Much better for the environment;)

[PeterGray]

So what's going to be in those containers now that the Chinese have banned our plastics? Perhaps we could supply some better quality products for the increasingly wealthy and discriminating Chinese or just start making more of our own stuff and import less of theirs. Much better for the environment;)

We don't produce much like that these days! Main foreign currency earners are things like foreign students and financial services, neither of which travel in containers.

So in answer to your question, if the refuse won't go back to China anymore many of the containers will probably go back empty - which presumably will add marginally to import costs - though presumably the refuse freight costs were low anyway, so not a great hit.

Peter

[Bouleversee]

Peter Gray said:

"We don't produce much like that these days! Main foreign currency earners are things like foreign students and financial services, neither of which travel in containers." I know that, but it doesn't necessarily have to be the case for ever more. Rather than plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose, couldn't it be, with a bit of imagination and initiative, plus ca change, plus dans nos coffres? I read today that the NHS has a big problem because the Chinese manufacturer of the plastic aprons used by them has stopped doing so (as a result of some new legislation relating to the environment) and they are running out. For heavens sake, why do we need to drag these all the way from China? I can't believe it involves huge amounts of hands-on labour to make such a basic product. Why can't we set up production lines here?Not suggesting this would be RPCs bag as I don't know precisely what they do but it seems to me that if the Chinese are so worried about environmental issues which affect them locally that they are going to stop making things for us or charge a heck of a lot more to produce and dispatch them, we are going to have to explore the possibilities of making them here without adding to our own environmental problems.

"So in answer to your question, if the refuse won't go back to China anymore many of the containers will probably go back empty - which presumably will add marginally to import costs - though presumably the refuse freight costs were low anyway, so not a great hit."

Who owns the containers? Do they go back if there is nothing to put in them? Am wondering whether there will be an impact on my hitherto very productive Clarkson shares.

[BobGe]

Who owns the containers? Do they go back if there is nothing to put in them? Am wondering whether there will be an impact on my hitherto very productive Clarkson shares.

1. In most cases either a container leasing co. or the shipping line. 2. Yes, it's a two way street. 3. Unlikely.