A man walks on a garbage-strewn beach. HEMANSHI KAMANI/REUTERS
Environmental groups have accused the United Kingdom of backtracking on earlier promises not to export dirty plastic waste to developing nations.
They say the UK s exit from the European Union, which was completed on Jan 1, opened the door to it stepping away from the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.
The convention was amended on the very day the UK left the bloc to outlaw exports of dirty and unsorted plastic waste to 187 developing nations.
The EU has pledged to follow the convention.
The UK Keeps Sending Plastic Waste to Poor Countries, Defying Past Pledge
UK citizens produce more plastic waste than nearly any other country.
Why Global Citizens Should Care
Plastic pollution is a growing environmental crisis that threatens all forms of life. The United Nations calls on countries to reduce plastic production and improve waste management. You can join us in taking action on related issues here.
The UK is sending plastic waste to low- and middle-income countries despite a partial ban on the practice that went into effect across the EU on Jan. 1, according to the Guardian.
The EU-wide ban, which prevents shipments of plastic waste to countries outside of the Organization of Economic Cooperations and Development, was developed while the UK was still a part of the political bloc. The UK government had said that it wouldn’t backslide on environmental commitments after its departure from the EU, but the ongoing shipment of plastic waste shows that it’s alread
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The U.S. generates more plastic waste than any country worldwide, having cranked out an estimated 42 million metric tons of it in 2016 alone, according to a recent study published in
Science Advances.
That figure is likely even higher today, says Kara Lavender Law, the lead study author and a professor at the Sea Education Association.
“Our estimate is based on the latest available data [some of which is seven years old], and we were conservative. Meanwhile, we have seen waste generation grow yearly,” Law says.
This newest chapter in the story of U.S. plastic wastes has brought attention to two quandaries. One is the country’s contribution to a global waste problem. The other dilemma is an increasingly inundated domestic waste management system as overseas markets shrink, with some countries who historically received tons of our mixed, dirty bales now refusing them.
Secret Canada-U.S. Plastic Waste Trade Deal Revealed
SEATTLE, Washington, December 18, 2020 (ENS) – Environmental groups are calling a secret agreement on plastic wastes signed between Canada and the United States “illegal, unacceptable and dangerous.” In a letter to Canadian Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson earlier this month, Canadian, U.S. and international environmental organizations called for the secret agreement to be made public.
They expressed their concerns that the agreement violates the new Basel Convention amendments on plastic wastes, which becomes international law on January 1, 2021. The Canadian government has claimed that it supports these amendments and promised to ratify them, but it has not yet done so.