According to a report by Taiwan's United News Network on October 10, the collapse of the global recycling market has forced the American community to make difficult choices. They do not know whether they can continue to bear the cost of recycling, or they should simply send all the bottles and plastic containers to the dump.
In the past, towns that once made money from recycling resources are now paying high fees. Please handle the removal of recycled materials from factories. Some financially difficult recyclers have also closed down, and the local government has to bury or incinerate their recycling materials.
The sorting facility of a recycling company in Massachusetts, USA, handles recycling from about 30 communities. Its president, Harvey, said: 'Without the market, we pay for the recycling. 75% of our recycling is now worthless. It even turned into a negative value. '
Greenpeace report
Recently, Unearthed, a news research agency of Greenpeace, issued a report stating that after China decided to ban the import of plastic waste, US exports of plastic waste to other developing countries in Southeast Asia increased sharply in the first half of this year.
According to data obtained by Unearthed through the US Census Bureau, in the first half of 2018, US plastic waste exports fell by a third from last year, from 949,789 metric tons to 666,780 metric tons. Exports to China fell by 92%. Hong Kong's exports have fallen by 77%.
At the same time, the US exports of plastic waste to Thailand increased by nearly 2,000% this year to 91,505 tons. US exports of plastic waste to Malaysia increased by 273% to 157,299 tons, while Vietnam's exports increased by 46% to 71,220. Tons. Exports to Turkey and South Korea have also increased significantly over the same period.
According to reports, a large amount of waste in Southeast Asian countries has forced them to impose more restrictions on the import of plastic waste. Due to the large amount of imported plastic waste, restrictions and taxes have been imposed in countries such as Vietnam and Thailand. The Malaysian government has announced a new levy on plastic waste. Import tax. According to Unearthed, this may lead to a crisis in the US recycling industry.
Robin Wiener, CEO of the US Trade Agency's Waste Recycling Industry Institute, told Unearthed, 'These countries have no infrastructure at the port or on the road to cope with the increase in the amount of materials.' That is, these countries do not have the capacity to handle them in a safe, environmentally friendly manner. Plastic waste.
John Hocevar, director of marine sports at Greenpeace in the United States, said, 'American companies are using unregulated developing countries to protect themselves, not to take responsibility for their own waste.'
Zoe Heller, assistant director of policy development at California's waste management agency CalRecycle, said that the source of revenue from the authorities has now become a cost. 'The environmental benefits of recycling now bring us the costs we have not seen before in California,' he said. .
Brent Bale, vice president of recycling at Waste Management, the largest waste management company in the United States, said, 'The industry must find domestic stores for our materials. We must encourage manufacturers to use a high percentage of recycled content in their products. We must ensure recycling It's clean and needs more money to help make upfront investment in manufacturing facilities so that more companies can use recycled materials and turn them into new ones.'
New Zealand’s national television station reports in depth
Recently, New Zealand's national television station RNZ also made an in-depth report on how New Zealand plastics went after China banned foreign garbage.
New Zealand garbage collection companies say they have no choice.
China bans the import of foreign garbage, and the price of plastic waste has plummeted. New Zealand lacks processing equipment. If it can't find an export destination, it can only be landfilled in New Zealand.
A few regional councils that can't think of a way have even stopped collecting some of the recyclable garbage. The Thames garbage collection site in the North Island of New Zealand has a large number of recycling wastes within the 16 local councils, waiting for sorting, loading, and shipping. foreign.
'Now as long as there are foreign countries willing to accept, we will not ask too many questions.'
As a result, thousands of tons of plastic began to be shipped to Malaysia.
According to statistics, in the first six months of this year, New Zealand's plastics shipped to Malaysia have tripled. Malaysia has also become a recycling plastics processing center in the UK and Australia.
Last year, New Zealand exported a total of 6,300 tons of plastics to Malaysia. This year will be much more.
Most New Zealanders know very little about this. The New Zealand government also has little information on the overseas turnover of New Zealand plastics.
The New Zealand Ministry of Environmental Protection is currently 'researching the impact of China's policy changes on the recycling industry', and some local council members, recycling industry participants are participating. Eugenie Sage, deputy minister of environmental protection, said that within a few weeks, there will be a research report.
Developed countries have developed a large amount of plastic waste from Southeast Asia to develop China. It is both a last resort choice and a reluctance to be responsible for the waste it produces. However, the world will no longer have a second China to become a waste in the world. Factories. More and more institutions and individuals in developed countries are beginning to reflect on their use of their own power to deal with their own waste generation. This is undoubtedly the positive impact of China's ban on the world.