There are particular concerns wdth the increase of bilateral flows in waste destined to emerging economies and developing countries wdth underdeveloped waste management capacity (Farrelly et al., Claiming that waste imports are polluting the environment, China has announced to impose import restrictions on waste and scrap taking effect in several phases starting from January 2018 (See Box 1). The question is rather if traded waste and scrap is processed and recovered in an environmentally sound manner and closely in-line with circular economy objectives (OECD, 2010, Shinkuma and Managi, 2011).