The problem of garbage exports in developed countries has been repeatedly banned. According to data recently disclosed on the official website of the British Parliament, about 60% of the more than 2.5 million tons of plastic waste generated by the UK in 2021 was illegally exported to developing countries. A report published by Science Advances, a sub-journal of the American journal Science, said that less than 10% of the plastic waste produced in the United States in 2016 was recycled, and a large amount of waste was shipped to developing countries, a practice that has lasted for 30 years.
At the same time, countries should strengthen international cooperation, continuously improve waste treatment capacity, accelerate the establishment of a stronger waste management constraint mechanism, and effectively prevent all kinds of hazardous waste from flowing into developing countries.
"Ecological catastrophe across the ocean"
According to a survey by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, the United States is Latin America's largest exporter of plastic waste. Between 2020 and 2021, more than 200,000 tons of plastic waste was transported from the United States to Latin American countries, posing a lot of harm to Latin American countries. "The harm caused by these imported garbage to the environment and human health is environmental colonialism," the organization said in the report. ”
According to Eurostat, EU waste exports to non-EU countries reached 33 million tonnes in 2021, an increase of 77% since 2004. Julius Faubier, a professor at the University of Ghana's School of Public Health, said waste electronics from Western European countries and the United States are often shipped to Ghana in huge containers. This has led to serious pollution in some places, and people who work and live nearby are prone to respiratory diseases, skin diseases, etc.
According to an OECD report released in February 2022, global plastic waste more than doubled from 2000 to 2019 to 353 million tonnes. Only 9% of these are successfully recycled, most of which are exported to other countries and end up in landfills, incineration or leakage into the environment. According to the United Nations, about 50 million tons of e-waste are generated globally each year, only 20% of e-waste is properly recycled, and the amount of e-waste is expected to double by 2050.
Experts said that for the vast number of developing countries, "foreign garbage" is still an "ecological disaster across the ocean". Countries that are unable to effectively deal with "foreign garbage" are suffering from a series of economic, social and health impacts. The Environmental Investigation Agency, a UK-based NGO, said in a report that the global movement of "foreign garbage" destroys the environment and water quality, exacerbates air pollution and climate change, and contributes to biodiversity loss. Among them, the degree of erosion of the atmosphere and soil by toxic chemicals such as lead and mercury released by e-waste is difficult to estimate. Since many countries receiving garbage do not have facilities to dispose of it safely, the damage to the environment and human health is serious.
Refusal to be a "dumping ground"
In order to ban the import of "foreign garbage", more and more developing countries have successively enacted legislation and continued to strengthen governance measures. According to the Basel Convention Plastic Waste Amendment, which came into effect in January 2021, exporting countries must obtain the consent of the receiving country before recycling "contaminated, mixed or environmentally inconsistent plastic waste", and the receiving country has the right to refuse.
In 2017, China clearly proposed to gradually ban the import of all kinds of "foreign garbage" in batches, and announced a timetable for completely banning the entry of "foreign garbage" and improving the management system for imported solid waste. From January 1, 2021, China has completely banned the import of solid waste, achieving the goal of zero imported "foreign garbage".
Many countries in Southeast Asia have also continuously upgraded "waste ban" measures. Thailand announced in 2022 that it would implement a phased total ban on plastic waste imports. "By 2025, we will not allow any plastic waste to be imported." Thailand's Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Vala'ut Sirpa Archa, said. Malaysia has imposed a recycling fee of 20 ringgit (US$1 is about 4.4 ringgit) per kilogram of imported "foreign waste" from June 2021.
Currently, 33 African governments have endorsed the Bamako Convention on the Ban of the Import into Africa of Hazardous Wastes and for the Management and Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes within Africa (Bamako Convention). The Convention focuses on combating the illegal importation of garbage, prohibiting the import of all hazardous and radioactive wastes into Africa for any reason, and minimizing and controlling the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes across the continent.
In December 2021, more than 70 organizations around the world signed a public statement demanding that the United States stop exporting plastic waste to Latin America. "It is irresponsible and unethical for the United States to export garbage to Latin America and the Caribbean and other countries. Instead of implementing appropriate measures at home, the United States practiced environmental colonialism by dumping garbage into other countries. Melissa Aguayo, coordinator of the global Free from Plastic campaign, said.
Strengthen recycling and management
In March, a report entitled Trade in Plastic Waste: Hidden Numbers, released by partners of the nonprofit International Network for the Elimination of Persistent Organic Pollutants (IPEN), found that developed countries generate about 34% of the world's waste and export large amounts of plastic waste. If measures are not taken to ban global trade in plastic waste soon, plastic waste generated by developed countries will continue to be exported unequally to other countries. In January, the European Parliament voted in favour of stricter controls on solid waste and proposed to phase out plastic waste exports to OECD countries within four years.
The OECD said in a related report that the international level should develop more responsible, transparent and enforceable waste management policies, and countries need to take measures to reduce plastic pollution at the source according to their own circumstances, including designing and developing better environmentally friendly products, improving waste management and recycling. Experts also said that to prevent low-income countries from becoming dumping grounds for other countries, the review of the Bamako Convention's monitoring and control mechanisms needs to be strengthened, and that international and regional organizations should also play a greater role in it to ensure better implementation of the Convention.
Some experts believe that in the future, there should be a complete ban on garbage exports, rather than a partial ban. Countries that have been burdening foreign garbage imports for many years should be compensated. Countries also need to strengthen international cooperation, share technology, improve waste treatment equipment, develop new waste treatment technologies, and enhance waste treatment and recycling capabilities. At the same time, sustainable solutions are developed to curb waste generation, eliminating the need for waste export in the first place.
"When countries are fully aware of the importance of the environment, people will pay more attention to waste reuse, the development of a 'zero waste' economy, etc. This requires not only attracting more funds to invest in technology research and development, but also promoting the update and iteration of the entire industrial chain. Celine Rudge, Global Plastics Policy Coordinator for the Global Alliance of Incinerator Alternatives, said.
Source: People's Daily