16.02.2020
Stop Exporting Plastic Waste From Britain To Malaysia.
Britain has agreed to take back 42 containers of plastic waste illegally exported to Malaysia, as several Asian nations push back against becoming the world’s rubbish dump. Southeast Asia has been flooded with plastic from more developed nations such as the US and Britain since last year when China – which boasted a massive recycling industry – ordered a halt to imports. Many recycling businesses from China moved to Malaysia after the ban took effect , leaving officials struggling to return a large number of shipping containers full of waste brought in from abroad. After a visit by UK environment officials, Britain agreed to take back containers sent to a major port in northern Penang state without the necessary import papers. Malaysian Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin praised the “highly commendable” move by London. Malaysian media reported the country’s imports of plastic waste from its 10 biggest source countries jumped to 870,000 tonnes between January and July 2019, up from 516,600 tonnes purchased in 2018 and 268,500 tonnes in 2017. A lot of the plastic scrap coming into the country is contaminated and low-quality plastic from developed countries that is non-recyclable, and ends up being burnt or buried in landfills. Credit: BBC
Poverty deprives people of adequate education, health care and of life's most basic necessities- safe living conditions (including clean air and clean drinking water) and an adequate food supply. The developed (industrialized) countries today account for roughly 20 percent of the world's population but control about 80 percent of the world's wealth.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
