Recycling & Trash

Current Affairs

May 2019: Southeast Asia put their foot down on international trash.

Cambodia to send plastic waste back to the US and Canada   CNN  July 18, 2019 Jessie Yeung “Cambodian officials announced Wednesday that they were sending 1,600 tonnes of trash back to their source — the United States and Canada. Cambodia is not a dustbin where foreign countries can dispose of out-of-date e-waste, and the government also opposes any import of plastic waste and lubricants to be recycled in this country,’ said Pheaktra….This pivoting of trash imports has created an illicit industry of unlicensed plastic recyclers. In Malaysia earlier this year, a government crackdown found at least 148 unlicensed recycling factories that pollute local communities with toxic fumes and contaminate bodies of water. Earlier this year, the Philippines and Canada engaged in a drawn out diplomatic row over the issue of imported trash, growing so heated that Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte recalled his ambassador to Ottawa — before Canada agreed to take back 2,450 tons of trash in May.

Also in May, Malaysia sent back 450 tonnes of plastic waste to their countries of origin, including the the United Kingdom, Canada, the US, Japan, and the Netherlands.
As countries bat around each others’ waste, they have also made collaborative efforts to stem the crisis. The governments of 187 countries agreed to control the movement of plastic waste between national borders in May by adding plastic to the Basel Convention, an international regulatory treaty.”