Operation Green Fence, implemented by Chinese customs authorities beginning in February 2013, intensified inspection of imported recyclable materials with strict contamination limits—often cited at 1.5 percent allowable non-conforming content per bale for paper and higher thresholds for plastics. The campaign targeted dirty, poorly sorted, or mislabeled scrap shipments that contributed to environmental pollution in China.
Plastic scrap exporters in the United States and Europe faced container delays, rising demurrage costs, and rejected loads as nearly every shipment received enhanced inspection. Mixed rigid plastics and film bales with elevated contamination proved especially vulnerable, disrupting established export routes that had handled much of the Western world's recovered polyethylene film.
Recycling market analysts linked Green Fence to declining prices for some recovered plastics in domestic U.S. markets as Chinese buyers reduced purchases or demanded washed, granulated material instead of mixed bales. The policy contributed to an reported 11 percent decline in U.S. plastic scrap export value in the first half of 2013 compared with the same period in 2012.
Official enforcement eased after November 2013, but industry observers noted Chinese import standards remained structurally tighter than pre-2013 practice—permanently raising quality expectations for exported film and mixed plastic bales and accelerating domestic reprocessing investment discussions in North America and Europe.
Flexible packaging converters and resin suppliers monitoring recovered PE supply chains during 2013 recognized Green Fence as an early signal that export-dependent recycling models faced geopolitical and environmental policy risk—foreshadowing later National Sword restrictions and renewed interest in regional film collection infrastructure.