Veolia Stands to Gain Amid China Waste Crackdown

French water and waste services firm Veolia Environnement SA sees opportunities in China from Beijing's crackdown on waste imports and is preparing to open a ship-dismantling plant in the south of the country, company executives said on Monday. China has this year tightened impurity thresholds on waste imports, which have since fallen dramatically, and has banned imports of 16 scrap and waste products from the end of 2018. "This new law in China offers us ... a lot of opportunities," Chief Executive Officer Antoine Frerot told Reuters in Beijing. Describing China's environmental standards as probably the "highest in the world," Frerot said he expected the country's waste crackdown to push the market toward companies offering thorough recycling services, suiting Veolia "compared to the small players which are just collecting and [doing] a bit of sorting."