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For over 25 years, wealthy Western countries have been sending their recycled plastic to China instead of taking care of themselves. Since 1992, nearly half of the 45% of plastic collected has been exported to China. According to the United Nations Trade Database, there are 106 million tons of breathtaking plastic.
The EU is the world's largest exporter of plastic waste. By far the most, about three quarters, went to China. But since the beginning of the year, China has stopped importing several types of plastic waste.
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– We do not know where the collected plastic takes the road. Some know that we are going to be burning within the EU, but some are disappearing from the Union and this is unacceptable, says Karolina Skog (MP).
In 2016, the EU produced about 27 million tons of plastic waste. One third, 8.4 million tonnes, was collected for recycling. Of the waste collected, around 3 million tonnes were exported to countries outside Europe. About nine tenths, or 2.7 million tonnes, were shipped to China, including Hong Kong.
For Sweden, the proportion is about the same. Of Sweden's nearly 30,000 tonnes of plastic waste exported to non-EU countries, nearly nine-tenths (88%) goes to China and Hong Kong
according to a recent report in Science Advances Science magazine. . China is now being sucked up by neighbors without infrastructure to sustainably manage all plastic waste.
– We had indications that she was landing in countries like Thailand and the Philippines, which are unable to deal with them. We do not know what is happening, there is a risk of dumping and it is totally unacceptable, "said Karolina Skog
She raised the problem with the European Commission
– The Commission has asked China to receive the waste.It is acute management, but we also need to regulate waste management.I prefer that there is a processing capacity in Europe to avoid the export of the waste. collected plastic.
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The ability to sort and recycle plastic in Europe is far from enough to be profitable to export it to other countries. 39, other countries
Up to now, China has used at least some of the recycled plastics in the production of goods which are then exported at competitive prices.
Sweden and EU: waste exports plastics to countries that do not manage Sustainable waste is likely to contribute to more plastic ports in the global ocean. It is stated in a Swedish report on waste that arrived a few months ago.
For a better understanding of each plastic waste, the road now leads Sweden to use the Basel Convention. It is waste export, and there is greenland plastic, that is, classified as a low risk substance. This means, among other things, that he is free to export plastic without informing any authority.
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– We want it to be reclassified so that plastic exporting companies out of the EU inform any authority of the exporting country. Karolina Skog says: [TRADUCTION] According to the current classification, consumers who have sorted and disposed of plastic waste properly can not know where the plastic is going.
The Minister of the Environment considers that recycling companies have a great responsibility and that they should act on their own
– I want to make a very strong appeal to the Swedish recycling industry, not only to wait for us to settle this without taking any responsibility today.
– The credibility of all recycling is at stake if they are passive here. They must become transparent and make sure that they discover what is happening. They can not leave it to an intermediary and then say that they do not know what is going on.
Facts
In 2016, Sweden exported nearly 30,000 tons of plastic waste to 11 countries outside the EU. For the most part, all plastic waste exported to Hong Kong is then exported to China.
Hong Kong: 54.2%
China: 33.8%
United States: 4.3%
Norway: 3.6
India: 1.5%
Israel: 0.9%
New Zealand: 0.5%
Turkey: 0.4%
Egypt: 0.4%
Vietnam: 0.2%
Morocco: 0 , 1%
Source: European Commission Database on Market Access
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