Note:
This article is summarizing
such a well written report,
(rare) that my summary
will consist mainly of quotes
from the report.
"Saving the Oceans and the
Plastic Recycling Crisis",
by Mikko Paunio, MD, MHS,
Published in May 2019,
by the Global Warming
Policy Foundation.
Last year the Foundation
revealed climate change policy
was an important cause of
marine plastic waste, in
"Save the Oceans:
Stop recycling plastic",
by Dr. Paunio, MD,
published in 2018.
Mikko Paunio, MD, MHS
is an adjunct professor
in general epidemiology
at the University of Helsinki.
He joined Finland’s
Social Democratic Party
in 1977.
Dr. Paunio has
40 publications listed
in the US National Library
of Medicine at the US
National Institutes of Health.
SUMMARY:
"The waste management industry
will no longer be able to dump waste
on poor countries and pretend
that they are ‘recycling’."
"The cost of annually recycling
tens of millions of tons
of dirty plastic scrap in EU
will be astronomical,
while still producing
a very large proportion
of reject material,
which will have to be
incinerated anyway."
"Politicians and the media
may well be forced
to come clean about
what a bad deal
they have been giving
taxpayers up until this point."
"Either way, EU member states
are going to have to quickly
increase incineration capacity."
INTRODUCTION:
On May 10, 2019,
the 14th Conference of Parties
to the Basel Convention
accepted a Norwegian proposal
to list contaminated plastic waste,
thus making it subject to
much tighter regulation.
That means exports of plastic
consumer waste to developing
countries will be curtailed.
"The inability to export
all but the cleanest sorted waste
adds to the problems
faced by the EU recycling industry,
already struggling to deal with
the loss of the Chinese export market
and the relentless tightening
of restrictions on landfill."
Too much of the exported plastics
had ended up in the rivers
and oceans of Asia in the past.
The recycling industry is opposed.
Green groups have kept quiet,
hoping past and existing problems
caused by large-scale recycling
will remain hidden.
The EU is also demanding
55% recycling of plastic waste
to reduce CO2 emissions.
That will be expensive.
- Landfill is not an option.
- Incineration capacity is inadequate.
- Exporting the problem away, the old
(non) answer, is no longer an option.
"The global plastics
‘recycling’ industry
is already on the
verge of meltdown
as a result of
China’s import ban."
( last year )
"Not only the biggest
plastic waste exporter
– the European Union –
but also the rest of
the English-speaking world,
Japan and even Brazil,
a developing country,
are now witnessing
rapidly growing mountains
of plastic waste."
"One of the most important
developments,
which has received
little international attention,
is the silent decision
of hundreds of municipalities
in the US to stop recycling
solid waste altogether."
"These are not
‘Trumpian’ decisions,
but decisions made by both
Democrats and Republican
administrations at local levels
across the country."
From Dr. Paunio's
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
"The United Nations has
just decided to add mixed
and contaminated plastic waste
to the schedule of materials
that are regulated under
the Basel Convention."
" ... it represents
a major victory
for the environment
because it will
effectively prevent
a large proportion
of exports of plastic waste
to developing countries."
"Much of this material
ends up in the oceans ... "
"However, it will also mean
that the problem of what to do
with plastic waste will return
to countries that produce it. "
"What is worse,
the EU is putting
in place stringent
new rules on plastic
recycling, which
will only increase
the size of the problem,
as will its new rules
on landfill."
"As a result
( of the new rules ),
EU countries
will find themselves
faced with
a growing mountain
of plastic waste,
and with few means
at their disposal
to deal with it."
"The EU has previously
been deeply opposed
to incineration of waste
... even if they were
to change their views,
there could still be
major problems because
the incineration capacity
available falls far short
of what is required."
DETAILS:
(for several decades)
" ... a comfortable way
for government to meet
targets without facing up
to the underlying
recycling issues
. . . it relies on exporting
materials to other parts
of the world without
adequate checks
to ensure this material
is actually recycled,
and without consideration
of whether other countries
will continue to accept it
in the long term. "
" the UK, like many other EU states,
has met EU recycling requirements
without proper consideration
of environment protection,
sustainability of the chosen policy
in the long term,
or economic viability."
"Wealthy countries
have tried to deal with
China’s import ban
by exporting waste
to countries like
Bangladesh, Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines
and Vietnam."
" ... the result has been
severe problems
with marine pollution.
