Most nations have banded together to tackle the crisis, but the U.S. keeps undermining their efforts. When President Donald Trump signed the bipartisan Save Our Seas Act into law last October, he painted a grim picture of just how dire marine plastic pollution had become.
Read MoreBeaches on Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean covered with litter. Shocking evidence of the pollution that pervades the world’s oceans has come to light with the discovery that more than 400m pieces of debris litter the coastline of the remote Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The layers of rubbish on the Indian Ocean archipelago weighed an estimated 238 tonnes, and included almost 1m shoes and 373,000 toothbrushes.
Read MoreThe 14th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Basel Convention today agreed to include mixed, unrecyclable and contaminated plastic waste exports into the control regime that requires the consent of importing countries before waste exports can proceed. The decision was hailed by the vast majority of the 187 nations present as well as by the Convention's environmental watchdog organization -- Basel Action Network (BAN) along with other civil society groups in attendance, as a breakthrough for environmental justice and an ethical circular economy.
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India has extended a ban on solid plastic waste imports to previously exempted areas.
Read MoreIndia has banned imports of waste plastic a year after China, the world’s biggest importer of scrap plastic implemented a similar ban on western imports.
Read MoreTaking an important step towards tackling the menace of plastic waste in India, the government has completely banned import of solid plastic waste/scrap into the country. India generates 25,940 tonnes of plastic waste every day.
Read MoreTokyo, Feb. 27 (Jiji Press)--Japan will cosponsor a proposal to ban imports and exports of dirty plastic waste under the Basel Convention, which restricts trading in harmful waste, government officials have said.
Read MoreThe 11th Meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group of the Basel Convention, the world's only international treaty on waste control, concluded with widespread and growing support for a proposal by Norway to add plastic waste to the list of wastes subject to the trade controls under the convention. The proposal is seen as a key mechanism to stem the tide of marine debris and plastic litter. It would add plastic waste to Annex II, a list of wastes for "special consideration" under the Convention that requires notification by exporting countries and consent by importing countries prior to export.
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Read MoreBasel Action Network and Ban Toxics, based in the Philippines, have requested the Secretariat of the Basel Convention invoke formal proceedings on Canada’s unwillingness to perform their Basel Convention obligations after Canada allowed the dumping of more than 100 containers of Canadian household waste on the Philippines.
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