13. Policy implementation

The implementation of policy are defined in Public Policy Analysis as the set of decisions and activities carried out by the public para-state and private actors who belong to the PAA; framed by a PAP (either by a set of legislative and regulatory rules that are more or less flexible and favorable to the interests of the different actors) governing the specific institutional rules of the policy in question; and carried out with the intention of creating, influencing or controlling:

1. The constitution of a 'policy network' (as defined by Clivaz, 1998), which structures the contracts between the formally competent administration (PAA), other stakeholder administrative services, target groups, end beneficiaries and third-party groups;

2. The conception of an 'implementation strategy', adopted within APs, which take into account updated analysis of the public problem to be resolved, in particular, its social (or functional), spatial (or geographic) and temporal distribution. Increasingly, the production of these plans is formally organized by means of codified planning exercises;

3. The (preparatory work for) concrete, general or individual decisions and activities that are directly addressed at target groups (outputs: products and / or administrative services)

13.1. Action plans

Action plans are defined as the set of planning decisions considered as necessary for the coordinated and targeted production of administrative services (outputs) and which, in certain circumstances, may already be partially established by the PAP. Thus, APs define priorities for the production of concrete measures and for the allocation of resources necessary to implement administrative decisions and activities.

In China's policy of importing solid waste, there are two kinds of APs, the functional and spatial one.

The APs of importing waste plastics

Among all kinds of solid waste imported by China from abroad, waste plastics occupy a striking position. The imported amount of waste plastics during the period of 2009-2012 can be demonstrated in the following table.

^{Table VIII: The imported amount of waste plastics 2009-2012}

The year	The imported amount of waste plastics	The percentage of imported waste plastics among the total of all kinds of imported waste
2010	8.0421 million tons	17.51%
2011	8.4077 million tons	14.61%
2012	8.8969 million tons	15.10%

Based on The Annual Report of Quality Inspection, and Quarantine of Imported Solid Waste of 2010-2012, available at http://www.aqsiq.gov.cn/zjxw/zjxw/zjftpxw/201306/P020130627590322671544.docx (in Chinese)

As a big importer of waste plastics, the total number of enterprises using waste plastics is almost 1600, which is the largest among all the enterprises using solid waste. In 2011, there were 1579 enterprises using waste plastics, which made up 54.21% of the total number of the enterprises using solid waste. At the same time, as the second manufacturer of plastics products in the world, China has a big demand for plastics, which cannot be fully met by the domestic supply of plastics materials. On that occasion, the imported waste plastics, which are of good quality and flexibility capabilities of being processed, are increasingly becoming a substitute for plastics materials. Besides, compared to the higher price of the plastics materials due to the increasing price of oil at international market, its stability of price makes waste plastics more attractive to manufacturers of plastics products.⁹⁵

However, China also faces big challenges posed by importation of waste plastics. Waste plastics is the type of waste which takes up the highest rate of being disqualified after inspection after arrival among all types of solid waste which have been inspected.

Table IX: The statistics on quality inspection and quarantine of waste plastics

The rate of being disqualified in 2010	The rate of being disqualified in 2011	The rate of being disqualified in 2012	The number of batches which are disqualified in 2012	The rate of disqualified batches of waste plastics among the total batches of disqualified solid waste in 2012
0.13%	0.12%	0.12%	154	59.23%

Based on The Annual Report of Quality Inspection, and Quarantine of Imported Solid Waste of 2010-2012, available at http://www.aqsiq.gov.cn/zjxw/zjxw/zjftpxw/201306/P020130627590322671544.docx (in Chinese)

It is clearly shown above that, to solve the problems of importing solid waste, the foreign suppliers, domestic consignees of waste plastics and the enterprises using waste plastics should be given priorities among all target groups. Therefore, in 2013, to solve the problems of importing waste plastics, the public administrative actor issue an action plan for its policy of importing solid waste which is focus on waste plastics,⁹⁶ which employs special requirements and standards on the enterprises using waste plastics.

Figure X: The APs of importing waste plastics

In this action plan, when applying for license of using waste plastics, the enterprises not only should be complied with the general requirements of using solid waste, but also the special requirements and standards of using waste plastics.

The APs of the enclosed management zone

Also, to promote the enclosed management of the imported solid waste, the government also issued APs based on the geographical criteria.⁹⁷ Here the APs of Enclosed Management Zone will be focused.

The Figure XI shows the route of APs of the enclosed management zone.

Figure XI: The APs of the enclosed management zone

In the APs of Enclosed Management Zones, there will be a fast track measures concerning licensing the enterprises in Enclosed Management Zones. Besides, they will enjoy the priority of more quota of import of solid waste on the license of import of solid waste.⁹⁸