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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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’.

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.

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.

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.

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.