China's waste import ban, instated at the end of 2017, prevented foreign inflows of waste products. Starting in early 2018, the government of China, under Operation National Sword, banned the import of several types of waste, including plastics. The ban has greatly affected recycling industries worldwide, as China had been the world's largest importer of waste plastics and processed hard-to-recycle plastics for other countries, especially in the West. The decision caused widespread repercussions on a global scale. In July 2018, China produced a document to the World Trade Organization regarding environmental and health issues. China requested an urgent change to be made revolving the imported waste China imports from other countries. The recommended list was pushing forward for wastes such as plastics, textile, and paper products to be banned from imports.

Blue Yonder (formerly JDA Software Group) is an American software and consultancy company (owned by New Mountain Capital, The Blackstone Group and Panasonic), providing supply chain management, manufacturing planning, retail planning, store operations and category management offerings headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. The company has more than 3,000 corporate customers in the manufacturing, distribution, transportation, retail and services industries. Companies acquired over time include Yantriks, Blue Yonder, RedPrairie, i2 Technologies, Manugistics, E3, Intactix, and Arthur.