(MENAFN - The Conversation) We all know it's wrong to toss your rubbish into the ocean or another natural place. But it might surprise you to learn some plastic waste ends up in the environment, even when we thought it was being recycled.
Read MoreInternational, European, Italian and Tunisian environmental groups have joined in demanding the immediate return of 282 containers full of mixed municipal waste that were illegally exported from Italy’s Campania region to the Port of Sousse in Tunisia between May and July 2020.
Read MoreActivists have contacted the world’s largest shipping lines, asking them to stop carrying loads that violate new Basel Convention regulations covering the global scrap plastic trade.
Read MoreA total of 52 organisations from all over the world have called upon major shipping lines to prove their corporate responsibility commitments by no longer transporting plastic waste from industrialised countries to developing countries that are ‘ill-equipped to handle it in an environmentally sound manner’.
Read MoreIn the lead up to the UN summit being held in Nairobi, UNEP has named Kenya as an emerging leader in the fight against plastic pollution and among the first countries in East Africa to sign the Clean Seas initiative. Responding to these developments, Greenpeace Africa senior Political Advisor Fredrick Njehu has said:
Read MoreEnvironmental and social activists around the world have called upon major shipping lines to prove their corporate responsibility commitments by no longer transporting plastic wastes from rich industrialized countries to countries that are ill-equipped to handle it in an environmentally sound manner.
Read MoreA loophole in state law allows California to deem exported plastic waste as recyclable even as these products are landfilled, burned, or dumped in the country they’re shipped to. Today, California State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) introduced legislation Assembly Bill 881 to make sure only truly recyclable plastic waste exports count toward the state’s recycling goals.
Read MorePost-Brexit Britain will continue to use the Global South as its dumping ground for unsorted plastic waste, despite the EU banning the practice.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreIndustry experts say overseas buyers are struggling to source scrap plastic after new restrictions on the global trade of recovered plastic began taking effect.
Read MoreThe UK hopes to convince US President-elect Joe Biden to accelerate negotiations for a trade deal by inserting provisions for environmental standards into the proposed deal.
Read MoreIn the wake of the European Union reminding the world that as of January 1 they will not allow the export of mixed and contaminated plastic waste to developing countries, it has been confirmed that the UK will not adopt such a prohibition post-Brexit and will adopt a far weaker stance with respect to human rights and environmental protection.
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Read MoreA quietly signed agreement between Canada and the United States allows the free shipment of plastic waste to continue, a move that activists say will soon violate an international treaty.
Read MoreA trade agreement signed in late October but kept secret until last week will allow Canada to keep shipping plastic scrap to the US for disposal — possibly in unsafe, or even illegal, ways.
Read MoreUK waste being shipped to the US to be incinerated has contaminated an unspoiled island after falling into the sea. Shredded plastic on its way to a plant in Maine in the northeastern US has washed ashore on Sears Island, a 1.5 sq mile island home to seals, otters and amphibians.
Read MoreEnvironment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin on Sunday said the government of Bangladesh has not allowed and will never allow plastic waste and its illegal trade into our country.
Read MoreOn January 1, 2021, it will immediately be illegal for 187 countries, including China, Mexico, Malaysia, India, and Indonesia that are parties to the Basel Convention to receive a variety of mixed and contaminated plastic wastes collected from the United States.
Read MoreEnvironmental Groups are calling a secret agreement signed between Canada and the US on October 26th of this year, illegal, unacceptable and dangerous.
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Read MoreRecently tabulated trade statistics from the United States Commerce Department show that the US continues to export about 28,000 metric tons per month of its plastic waste to developing countries.
Read MoreWaste exports to Malaysia increased by 81% in the first seven months of 2020, compared to the previous year, with 33,098 tonnes sent to the country, according to analysis.
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