Wealthy Western countries including the UK ship millions of tons of plastic waste to poorer countries for recycling every year.
But because environmental controls in these countries are weaker, much of the plastic ends up in the sea or burned in the open, releasing dangerous chemicals.
The report by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, which advocates climate change skepticism, criticised the EU’s “absurd” crusade to recycle plastic.
And it said Brussels is also blocking the controversial option that would permanently remove plastic from the environment – “clean” incineration.
The revelation came as it was revealed yesterday that Britons throw away 55.5 billion plastic items a year.
The staggering figure works out at about 1,000 items each, with plastic food packaging, bottles and wet wipes dominating, according to pollsters Opinium Research.
Yet nine in 10 of people quizzed said they were worried about the impact of plastic on the environment.
Now the UK has been urged to tackle the production of single-use plastic.
The Foundation study, Save The Oceans – Stop Recycling Plastic, said the problem has been compounded by China’s decision earlier this year to refuse to accept plastic waste from overseas.
For the past two decades, nearly half the EU’s annual six million tons of plastic waste has gone to China for recycling.
Now EU states, the USA and Japan are “desperately” turning to countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
Britain has dramatically increased its plastic waste exports to Asian countries following China’s crackdown on imported recycling.
Exports to Malaysia have more than trebled from 15,600 tons in the whole of 2017 to 51,500 tons in the first few months of this year.
Figures obtained by Greenpeace’s Unearthed investigations team also found exports to India rose from 5,800 to 8,000 tons. Exports to Bangladesh – of which there was no record last year – already stand at 110 tons for 2018.
Plastic sent to Indonesia has increased from 16,000 to 20,000 tons.
Last year, Britain sent 76,000 tons of plastic to China and 44,000 tons to Hong Kong, but in early 2018 this plummeted to 25,000 tons to China and 12,600 tons to Hong Kong.
The study’s author, the Finnish public health expert Dr. Mikko Paunio, wrote: “Since the waste management infrastructure in South-east Asia is much more primitive than in China, it remains unclear to what extent the rejected ‘recycles’ end up in the ocean or burned in the open.”
Read more at Daily Express
Can a plastic tax be far behind ? Maybe all that plastic is causing oceans to rise .
When did Coke and Pepsi know ? A California ambulance chaser dream .
Until reading the articles on this website I thought that recycling plastic was an environmentally friendly thing to do. I now realize it is better to put it in a land fill.
Anyone who burns plastic in a wood stove can tell you that plastic gives off a lot of heat. It should, it is made from oil. This is why I’m mystified that clean incineration isn’t routinely used to produce power. Unlike a wood stove which releases toxic gasses when burning plastic, clean incineration is done at temperatures hot enough to burn these gasses. The mountains of plastic shouldn’t be burden that is casing pollution; they should be used as an energy resource.
They should make Plastic more Biodegradible in the ocean but it should not mean continuing to dump plastic on the Oceans where is messes up with the Birds and Sea Creatures
China, India and Indonesia etc. have been using the Indian and western Pacific oceans as garbage dumps for centuries and they’re not about to stop.