Last July, the Chinese government announced a ban on imports of 4 major categories of 24 kinds of foreign waste, more than a year in the past to achieve significant results.
According to British media reports, after the ban, China's former import of rubbish important source-the United States of plastic waste is surging to Southeast Asia's developing countries.
The international Environmental Agency, Greenpeace (Greenpeace), released a survey October 5 local time, reporting that the United States is ' exploiting ' the developing countries that lack regulatory exploiting to ensure that plastic waste is treated in an environmentally friendly manner.
Plastic waste to Southeast Asia, environmental groups report batch: The United States is ' exploiting ' these countries In the first 6 months of the year, nearly half of U.S. exports of recycled plastic waste were shipped to countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, the Guardian said 5th, citing a report by Greenpeace's research body.
Last year, more than 70% of the US plastic waste was shipped to mainland China and Hong Kong.
China was once the world's largest importer of recycled plastic waste, the Guardian said, and this year China banned imports of foreign waste, leaving many Western exporters looking for a way out.
The report says the analysis from Greenpeace shows that the United States is ' exploiting ' the developing countries that do not have a regulatory framework to ensure that plastic exploiting are treated in an environmentally friendly way. John Hocevar, head of the Greenpeace Marine Movement, said: ' American companies are not John Hauswa their own rubbish, but are exploiting developing countries that lack regulatory protection.
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The rubbish includes disposable plastic bottles, plastic bags and food packaging, which can often contain toxic substances, HAUSWA said. ' For the United States and other developed countries, waste that contains toxic substances is often a big problem, and they can't and won't handle it themselves, ' he said.
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Hauswa that China no longer imports foreign waste, ' means we are producing a lot of plastic waste that we don't know how to deal with. ' According to the Guardian, data released by the U.S. Census Bureau (US Census Bureau) showed that U.S. plastic waste exports fell 1/3 per cent from 949789 tonnes to 666780 tonnes in the first half of the year.
Exports to the mainland of China fell by 92%, and exports to Hong Kong fell by 77%. At the same time, the United States this year to Thailand's plastic waste exports surged nearly 2000% to reach 91505 tons. U.S. exports to Malaysia rose 273% to 157299 tonnes, while exports to Vietnam grew by 46% to 71220 tonnes.
Exports to Turkey and South Korea also increased sharply over the same period. Southeast Asian countries are struggling to cope with the influx of foreign plastic waste after the Chinese garbage ban, the Guardian said. ' As imports have increased, we've seen these countries start reacting, ' Hauswa said: ' Ultimately, we need to solve the problem from the source.
' In June of this year, 80 plastic bags were installed in the stomach of a dead pilot whale in Thailand, highlighting the harmful effects of plastics on rice. Thai local media said the Thai government was considering banning all refuse imports after some garbage collection factories found irregularities.
In May this year, Vietnam temporarily banned the import of plastic waste, after two of Vietnam's ports were ' overwhelmed ' by garbage imports. Two months later, Malaysia also withdrew some of its plastic waste import licences.
Earlier, in Banting, southwest of the country's capital, Banting, residents complained of air and water pollution, and local recycling plants were forced to shut down. The Observer network noted that, in fact, the surge in Thai garbage imports was also driven by the policies of its own government.
This year, the Government of Thailand's "waste-to-energy" (waste-to-energy) policy was used to open the door to junk access, a policy that has been warned and criticized by environmentalists in the country, according to a previous report by the Observer network.
Academics and industry insiders disagree Daniel Hoornweg, an associate professor at the Faculty of Energy Systems and Sciences at the Ontario Institute of Technology, Daniel Hohnweg, said: ' It does give people an opportunistic impression that over time, These countries will combat the importation and processing of garbage.
' ' Canadians, Americans and Europeans need to be aware that this is a bigger problem than saying ' no ' to plastic bags at the checkout counter. This requires a fundamental overhaul of our economy. He said: ' Interestingly, the U.S. exports of plastic waste will eventually be shipped back to the United States in the form of ' toys ' and sold in supermarkets.
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However, in the view of scholars and environmental experts, the United States plastic waste industry people do not agree.
Atrina Nie Adler, senior director of international affairs at the Washington-based Waste Recycling Industry Association (Adina Renee Adler), said the US plastic waste industry had ' not dumped trash in Southeast Asia ' because it had a legitimate market in Southeast Asia. ' What we're saying is that these recyclable rubbish is what they buy, ' said Adler, ' the local government's response is that our port is not overwhelmed, but we want their ban to be temporary because of the existence of legitimate trade.
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Since the implementation of the ' foreign waste ' ban in China last year, China Customs has made remarkable achievements in cracking down on the smuggling of imported waste. According to China's Environmental protection Online website, the data show that in 2016 China's total imports of solid waste more than 46.5 million tons, restricting the import of solid waste of 44.4 million tons, accounting for up to 95.5%. In 2017, the total volume of solid waste imports fell by more than 9%, limiting the decline in imports of solid waste by about 12% per cent.