Waste clamp spurs effort on recycling By JAN YUMUL in Hong Kong | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2021-01-14 10:27
China s ban on imports forces rethink among countries in region on disposal
With a Chinese ban on imports of solid waste having come in at the start of the year, countries in the region are stepping up their recycling efforts.
Mageswari Sangaralingam, a research officer at the Consumers Association of Penang in Malaysia, said the Chinese move coincides with new conditions under the Basel Convention Plastic Waste Amendments also taking effect on Jan 1.
Due to environmental and health considerations, China s ban applies to the dumping, stacking and disposal of solid waste from overseas on Chinese soil. The Chinese decision has galvanized efforts in many countries to reduce their own waste.
SunStar
+ December 15, 2020 THE global waste trade, like any economic endeavor, is a numbers game, and unfortunately, those numbers are against the Philippines and other developing countries, which find themselves on the losing end of a billion-dollar industry. This game has always been skewed to be advantageous for Global North countries with the Global South paying a hefty price. It s not just money in the form of waste handling expenses, but consequences like environmental degradation, toxic contamination and the deteriorating health of affected communities.
An entire system of inequitable trade has been exploiting the developing world for decades, taking advantage of poor safety standards, cheap costs, loose laws around hazardous waste, and even looser environmental regulations. The destructive combination of these elements makes developing countries an alluring destination richer nations waste.