Brussels, Belgium. Jan 21, 2023. The former Brazilian Aircraft Carrier named SÃO PAULO, laden with asbestos, PCBs and other toxic waste materials, was seized on Friday and forced out to sea by the Brazilian Navy claiming in an official notice yesterday the move had to be done as the vessel was supposedly in imminent danger of running aground or sinking off the Brazilian coast. Green groups that have been closely following the saga of the SÃO PAULO were shocked over this move and are not convinced by the Navy's sudden rationale that the ship poses an imminent danger.
Read More'Advanced’ Recycling of Plastic Using High Heat and Chemicals Is Costly and Environmentally Problematic, A New Government Study Finds→
/Author: James Bruggers
The plastics industry’s quest to solve the problem of plastic waste through so-called “advanced” recycling—using chemical additives and sometimes extremely high heat to turn waste back into new plastics—is costly and comes with significant environmental impacts, according to new research from the federal government’s National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado. Government researchers singled out two prominent “advanced” technologies—pyrolysis and gasification—as particularly problematic, saying they should not even be considered “closed-loop” recycling technologies.
Read MoreBrazil Refuses to Allow its Own Toxic Aircraft Carrier to Dock→
/Brussels, Belgium. January 19, 2023. Three months after its return to Brazil, from an aborted voyage to Turkey, the toxic aircraft carrier SÃO PAULO continues to be towed in circles off the coast of Pernambuco state, Brazil, with no plan or effort by the Brazilian Environment Agency (IBAMA) or Brazilian Navy to provide the vessel a safe mooring place. This failure to act comes after a Salvage Master inspector declared the ship is taking on water and needs repair and the owners of the ship threatened to abandon the vessel.
Read MoreParliament backs export ban on all waste destined for disposal→
/Author: Valentina Romano
The Parliament’s report on the EU’s waste shipment regulation was adopted by a large majority, with 594 votes in favour, 5 against and 43 abstentions. The law is now ready to enter the final stages of adoption, with talks to be scheduled later this year between the European Parliament and EU member states to finalise the text.
Read MoreEuropean parliament agrees to ban plastic waste exports outside the EU→
/Author: Kurt Sansone
A proposal to ban plastic waste exports outside the EU negotiated by Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer received overwhelming support in the European Parliament on Monday. The proposed ban was supported by 93% of MEPs in a clear sign of parliament’s will to stop the EU from exporting its waste problem.
Read MoreAnkara, EU Commission meet to discuss ‘waste’→
/Author: Hurriyet Daily News
The European Commission and the Turkish trade and environment ministries have discussed the EU’s Waste Shipment Regulation draft in Brussels, with Ankara demanding the end of waste shipment from Europe to Türkiye. The Turkish delegation emphasized that the prevention of illegal waste shipment and its damage to the environment is a “shared goal.”
Read MoreOpinion: The Lead Industry’s Continuing Influence and Its Consequences→
/Author: Perry Gottesfeld
Given the negative publicity about the lead paint in our homes poisoning children and lead pipes contaminating our water, most people might assume that the lead industry is suffering a slow death. But even as our understanding of low-level lead exposure hazards has grown, global lead production actually increased by 75 percent between 2001 and 2017. In the United States, according to the most recent federal data, lead usage grew 26 percent over this same period, largely due to a rise in ammunition production and lead battery manufacturing.
Read MoreActivists sue French food firm Danone over use of plastics→
/Author: Karen McVeigh
Danone, the French yoghurt and bottled water company, is being taken to court by three environmental groups who accuse it of failing to sufficiently reduce its plastic footprint. The company behind Evian and Volvic mineral water was failing in its duties to act under a groundbreaking French law, the groups said.
Read MoreDanone to face French court over plastic megapollution→
/Author: ClientEarth
Three environmental groups are filing a lawsuit against Danone over its global plastic pollution. ClientEarth, Surfrider Foundation Europe and Zero Waste France have filed the lawsuit against the French company, whose annual sales top more than £24bn euros, in the Paris Tribunal Judiciaire – the equivalent of the UK High Court. The French ‘Duty of Vigilance’ law demands that companies over a certain size assess and prevent the impacts their operations have on the environment and human rights, via a ‘vigilance plan’.
Read MoreMarcos urged to impose national waste-import ban policy→
/Author: Jonathan L. Mayuga
A waste and pollution watchdog has reiterated its call on the Marcos administration to ratify the Basel Convention Ban Amendment and immediately put in place a national waste-import ban policy to effectively prevent hazardous waste entering the country’s borders. The EcoWaste Coalition issued the call as part of the commemoration of Zero Waste Month this January.
Read MoreBurnaby company must pay $4.3M over disputed plastic shipments to Thailand→
/Author: Srushti Gangdev
A Burnaby-based trading firm is on the hook for nearly $4.3 million after failing to present a defence by the deadline in a federal court lawsuit against it. Golden Trust Trading Inc. has been ordered to pay shipping company Hapag-Lloyd Aktiengesellschaft for costs it incurred in transporting 33 shipping containers filled with waste paper and plastic film from Vancouver to Bangkok in the spring of 2019.
In Tunisia, a former minister sentenced in a case of household waste illegally imported from Italy→
/Author: Le Monde
This scandal shed light on the global waste trade. A former Tunisian environment minister has been sentenced to three years in prison for his role in an illegal import of household waste from Italy, local media reported on Wednesday (January 4th). Mustapha Aroui had been removed from his post and arrested in December 2020 with several officials from his ministry as part of an investigation into this scandalous affair in Tunisia.
Read MoreSpain busts criminals smuggling e-waste to Africa→
/Author: News24
Spanish police have broken up a criminal group that smuggled over 5 000 tons of hazardous electronic waste from Spain's Canary Islands to several African countries, authorities said on Tuesday. Police arrested 43 people suspected of having illegally shipped 331 containers of used electronics to Africa over the past two years, the finance ministry said in a statement.
Read MoreIllegal scrapyards in Colvale go up in flames, one worker injured→
/Author: The Herald
MAPUSA: A major fire broke out at an illegal scrapyard located at Murshiwaddo, Colvale, on Wednesday morning. While the blaze was reported at 10 am, the staff of the Mapusa fire station struggled to control it and spent the whole day at the spot to ensure that the fire was doused completely.
Read MoreAmazon Packages Burn in India, Final Stop in Broken Recycling System→
/Author: K. Oanh Ha
Muzaffarnagar, a city about 80 miles north of New Delhi, is famous in India for two things: colonial-era freedom fighters who helped drive out the British and the production of jaggery, a cane sugar product boiled into goo at some 1,500 small sugar mills in the area. Less likely to feature in tourism guides is Muzaffarnagar’s new status as the final destination for tons of supposedly recycled American plastic.
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