As China and other surrounding developing countries say no of solid waste, the production and domestic waste of developed countries such as the United States suddenly lose their way out, which is hurting the handling of these wastes.
For the use of waste, for example, using waste plastic as the raw material for producing plastic particles and even chemical fiber clothing, as many as 7.3 million tons of solid waste imported in 2017, of which only from the United States and Japan's waste plastics exceeded 20010,000 tons.However, because the current waste plastic regeneration technology has not yet passed, during the recycling process of waste plastics, it has caused serious pollution to the water quality of the river and even the ocean.Plastic garbage, which is dumped in the ocean every year, is far ahead of the world, which is completely disproportionate to the image of a responsible country seek in China.
The biggest manufacturer of global domestic garbage is the United States. The per capita garbage produced by the United States is three times the global average, and the garbage manufacturing of the United States accounts for 12%of the global total.The recycling rate of solid garbage recycling in the United States is only about 35%, and only half (68%) of Germany with the highest recovery rate is a little more.Among the major developed countries, the United States is the only country that makes garbage manufacturing more than garbage recovery.How to deal with such a large amount of garbage that cannot be recycled?Very simple, packaged and passed on pollution.
Over the past 20 years, about one -third of the solid waste that the United States has been unable to handle has been transported to China.In 2017, the US exported to China was worth $ 5.6 billion, and it was the sixth largest product exported to China.The United States transferred a large amount of garbage to China, which severely exacerbated China's environmental pollution.
To this end, the Chinese government announced in July 2017 that it was completely banned from the end of the year that the imports of the import of imports were harmful and the public responded strongly; the solid waste that could be replaced by the imported domestic resources by the end of 2019 was gradually stopped by the end of 2019.The China Ministry of Environmental Protection and the National Standardization Commission submitted a notice document to the World Trade Organization, respectively, and informed China's types of foreign garbage prohibited from imports.At the same time, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the General Administration of Customs also carried out special inspection activities on related issues.A comprehensive war against foreign garbage is starting.
Since then, China's imported US waste plastics have dropped sharply from 1.1 million tons in 2014 to 40,000 tons in 2018; imports from Japan also decreased sharply from 950,000 tons to 50,000 tons.
Southeast Asian countries treat foreign garbage tough
Southeast Asian countries have also adopted a countermeasures similar to China.Last year, the US exports to Malaysia were 200,000 tons, and Japan's exports to Thailand were only 190,000 tons. In the past few years, exports to these two countries were around 1.4 million tons to 1.6 million tons.In addition, Vietnam and even South Korea and Taiwan are the export destinations of plastic garbage in the United States and Japan.There is no way out of the moment. The backlog of waste plastics in the United States and Japan is more than 1 million tons. The governments of the two countries are racking their brains to find a new way.
The latest cases in the Philippines are obviously more representative.Six years ago, a Canadian company transported more than 100 containers (2450 tons) to the Philippines with more than 100 containers (totaling 2450 tons) with recycling plastic labels. Since then, they have stopped placing ports near Manila.In the past, because of the lack of environmental protection, it was said that it was recycling and reuse. In fact, it was directly poured into the sea, which seriously polluted the sea water, which was obviously unsustainable.In 2016, a court of Philippine ordered to transport these garbage back to Canada, and the cost was borne by the importer.
However, Canada has not shipped back to these garbage until April this year, President Duterte said angrily that the Philippines was not a garbage dump, nor did the Philippines pick up garbage.If Canada is not shipped back to these garbage, he ordered the garbage to the Canadian embassy in the Philippines.In the end, Canada was soft and finally transported these garbage back to its country in June this year.
Earlier, Cambodia Customs also seized 83 garbage containers in the port of Sihanouk.The Cambodian Ministry of Environment issued a statement on July 17 that the 83 containers will be returned, 70 of which are from the United States and 13 from Canada. All companies related to these garbage will be sued.The Cambodian Ministry of Environment also stated that Cambodia is not a trash can, and foreign countries cannot transfer garbage to Cambodia, including recyclable plastic garbage.
The same is true in Europe.Earlier, the waste plastic produced in the production and life of EU countries, 30%landfill treatment and 40%burned. The rest was also looking for a way out from developing countries.For example, Plastic garbage in Germany had previously exported a lot to India, Poland and Southeast Asia.Today, because developing countries are unwilling to pollute the country's environment for the advantages of the head now, the European Parliament has passed a decision in March this year that disposable plastic products are strictly prohibited.In June of this year, the Osaka Twenty Group (G20) Summit established a goal: before 2050, the marine plastic waste was reduced to zero.
The enhancement of environmental protection awareness in developing countries has forced developed countries to have to change the same way and seek sustainable development path.In July of this year, about 500 experts from major chemical companies in the world gathered in Tokyo, announcing the establishment of elimination of plastic garbage alliances.Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and other chemical giants in the United States, Europe, and Japan jointly invested 1.5 billion US dollars to establish a fund to promote this goal.In the fall of this year, the G20 will also be gathered in Tokyo, discussing how to fundamentally eliminate plastic waste to ensure that the global ocean is pollution -free from plastic garbage.
It is reported that after China, Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia, etc. refusing to have overseas garbage, which caused great panic in Western society.On May 28, Malaysia plans to return 3,000 tons of plastic waste to at least seven countries such as Japan and the United States on the grounds of illegal imports.After foreign garbage was rejected, developed countries such as the United States, Europe, Japan, Australia were in a dilemma, and the exporting country of garbage began to appear uncomfortable symptoms. The most prominent of which was Australia.
According to reports, after China and India have issued garbage imports, the garbage recovery system in Australia is facing collapse, a large amount of garbage backlog, and the government is at a loss for how to deal with these garbage hands.
Refusing to enter the country with foreign garbage and protecting the ecological environment, this is completely unsuccessful, but the United States blame China as a bad precedent, which has triggered a chain reaction, which has completely disrupted the garbage treatment system in the United States.China's ban on imported foreign garbage has made garbage in the United States, Europe, Japan, Australia, and other countries bursting out, and the authorities are helpless.
French attitude is worth learning
At the meeting of the World Trade Organization Commission on March 23 this year, the US representatives actually proposed that the restrictions on imports of recyclable items in China have greatly hindered the operation of the global waste metal supply chain and required China to cancel this oneban.In this regard, China has clearly responded: the United States has no reason to say that there is no reason, no reason, and no evidence in the Fa.
Not all developed countries on this issue are the same as the United States, France is a model.French RTL Radio on September 24 this year, on the title of how China forced French innovation garbage recycling, expressed his gratitude to China's environmental protection policy for refusing foreign garbage.According to the report, China used to be like a global trash can, including many Western countries, including France, transported a large amount of plastic waste to China and handed it over to China for treatment.However, since the implementation of foreign garbage ban in China, it has begun to force French enterprises to innovate and develop new methods for developing garbage recovery.This attitude in France is worthy of the United States.
On May 10 this year, the Basel Convention of the Basel Convention on the international transfer of harmful waste in Geneva, Switzerland, passed the amendment to add plastic waste to the import and export restrictions. The amendment will take effect in 2021.
The amendment clearly stipulates that without exporting, transit, and the consent of the competent authorities of imported countries, all plastics are no longer exported.Although the United States refuses to join the convention, it does not affect the effectiveness of the Convention because the State -owned State's rights refuse to accept waste plastics from non -parties.There are as many as 187 contracts in the convention, and there are only 193 countries around the world.The United States runs counter to the mainstream of the international community.
The author is the Institute of International Issues in Shanghai, China
Associate Researcher
Over the past 20 years, about one -third of the solid waste that the United States cannot handle has been transported to ChinaEssenceIn 2017, the US exported to China was worth $ 5.6 billion, and it was the sixth largest product exported to China.The United States transferred a large amount of garbage to China, which severely exacerbated China's environmental pollution.
