Thailand plans to ban plastic-waste imports by 2021
point collecting recyclable waste unless someone is willing to buy it and actually do the recycling. Until late 2017 China was the world’s biggest importer of scrap by far. This made sense. Like most other forms of manufacturing, recycling is cheaper there. Moreover, Chinese factories consumed lots of the resulting plastic and pulp, whereas developed economies, which tend to be net importers of goods, had plenty of plastic bottles and cardboard boxes to spare.
All this came to a halt when the Chinese government banned the import of all but the purest scrap material in 2017, killing a trade worth $24bn a year. Waste dealers in the rich world had to scramble to find new buyers. South-East Asia soon emerged as the pre-eminent destination for foreign waste. Unfortunately, the region’s recycling industry is much smaller than China’s; its processing plants were quickly overwhelmed. Plastics from America and Europe have piled up in landfills.
. Vietnam’s government has similar ideas. Kate O’Neill of the University of California, Berkeley, reckons these bans are motivated not only by environmental concerns but also by pride: Asia does not want to be the world’s dumping ground. Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, recently threatened to go to war with Canada if it did not take back a shipment of plastic scrap. Canada agreed to take it away, and Mr Duterte stopped blustering after an election had passed. All the same, rich-world exporters might want to start work on Plan
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Iran's Rouhani says U.S. actions threaten Middle East stabilityU.S. actions pose a serious threat to stability in the Middle East, Iranian Pres...
Read more »
The rising risk of war in the Middle EastRecent attacks on shipping, including oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, and missile attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels directed at targets inside Saudi Arabia are ratcheting up tensions in the Middle East, writes Peter Bergen.
Read more »
Middle East attack jolts oil-import dependent AsiaThe blasts detonated far from the bustling megacities of Asia, but the attack this week on two tankers in the strategic Strait of Hormuz hits at the heart of this region's oil-import-dependent economies, APKlug reports.
Read more »
U.S. has 'no interest' in new conflict in Middle East: militaryThe United States has no interest in engaging in a new conflict in the Middle Ea...
Read more »
Oil prices rise for second day after Middle East tanker attacksOil rose for a second day on Friday, extending sharp gains following attacks on ...
Read more »
A Novice Player Gets a Painful Lesson in Middle East PeacemakingJapanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had a rough debut as Middle East peacemaker, ending the first trip by a Japanese leader to Iran in 41 years with the U.S.-Iran conflict even more volatile than before.
Read more »