BAN Warns of an Increase in Illegal E-waste Exports from the US to Malaysia

Source: https://conta.cc/3vriHWf

Author: Basel Action Network

Seattle. March 28, 2024. The waste trade watchdog Basel Action Network (BAN), which takes its name from the global Basel Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, is warning of what appears to be another wave of illegal e-waste trafficking that is now finding its way to Malaysia. Investigations by BAN reveal a pathway of e-wastes from across the United States being exported primarily out of the port of Los Angeles on container ships to Malaysia. BAN has recently warned authorities in Malaysia of specific incoming shipments following a recent spate of raids in Malaysia, shutting down clandestine and illegal e-waste dismantling operations. It is illegal for Malaysia to receive any hazardous electronic waste from the US or other developed countries.

Image: Satellite view of one of the recently raided e-waste facilities in Malaysia. (Imagery ©2024 Maxar Technologies, Map data: ©2024 Google)

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Where Ships Go to Die: The Environmental Cost of the Shipbreaking Industry in Bangladesh

Source: https://www.thebubble.org.uk/current-affairs/where-ships-go-to-die-the-environmental-cost-of-the-shipbreaking-industry-in-bangladesh/

Author: Ellen Hodges

The Al Nabila IV, a 27,000-dwt tonnage vegetable oil tanker, reaches her final resting place on Sitakunda beach near Chittagong in Bangladesh. After nearly 30 years of shipping, she is rammed onto Sitakunda beach at high tide and left to be disassembled by thousands of workers.

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‘They lied’: plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/15/recycling-plastics-producers-report

Author: Dharna Noor

Plastic producers have known for more than 30 years that recycling is not an economically or technically feasible plastic waste management solution. That has not stopped them from promoting it, according to a new report. “The companies lied,” said Richard Wiles, president of fossil-fuel accountability advocacy group the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI), which published the report. “It’s time to hold them accountable for the damage they’ve caused.”

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Petrochemical companies have known for 40 years that plastics recycling wouldn’t work

Source: https://grist.org/accountability/petrochemical-companies-have-known-for-40-years-that-plastics-recycling-wouldnt-work/

Author: Joseph Winters

For 40 years, plastic and petrochemical companies have tried to convince the public that plastics can be recycled. But they’ve known for just as long that plastics recycling would never work. A report released last week by the nonprofit Center for Climate Integrity, or CCI, chronicles a “decades-long campaign of fraud and deception” from Big Oil and the plastics industry to promote recycling as a solution to the plastic pollution crisis. New documents show that industry executives pushed plastics recycling despite knowing since the 1980s that it “cannot be considered a permanent solid waste solution,” and that recycled plastics would never be able to compete economically with virgin material. 

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Reduce, reuse, redirect outrage: How plastic makers used recycling as a fig leaf

Source: https://www.npr.org/2024/02/15/1231690415/plastic-recycling-waste-oil-fossil-fuels-climate-change

Author: Michael Copley

The plastics industry has worked for decades to convince people and policymakers that recycling would keep waste out of landfills and the environment. Consumers sort their trash so plastic packaging can be repurposed, and local governments use taxpayer money to gather and process the material. Yet from the early days of recycling, plastic makers, including oil and gas companies, knew that it wasn't a viable solution to deal with increasing amounts of waste, according to documents uncovered by the Center for Climate Integrity.

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Companies Are Trying to Offset Their Plastic Waste. Some Experts Are Skeptical

Source: https://time.com/collection/time-co2-futures/6691961/companies-offsetting-plastic-waste/

Author: Aryn Baker

I have a problem with the F-word, in that I use it far too freely. So, in an effort to raise a child with better manners than her mother, I implemented a household swear penalty system. Every time I dropped the F-bomb, she got 25 cents. Several years on, I can report that my language has not improved, but my daughter’s finances certainly have. My parenting fail feels not too dissimilar to the nascent industry of plastic credits. Like its better-known enviro-financial cousin the carbon credit, it is a system in which companies with a large plastic footprint can, theoretically, mitigate their impact.

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California Tried to Ban Plastic Grocery Bags. It Didn’t Work.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/climate/california-plastic-bag-ban.html

Author: Hiroko Tabuchi

Almost a decade ago, California became the first state in the United States to ban single-use plastic bags in an effort to tackle an intractable plastic waste problem. Then came the reusable, heavy-duty plastic bags, offered to shoppers for ten cents. Designed to withstand dozens of uses, and technically recyclable, many retailers treated them as exempt from the ban.

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New Report Makes the Case for Legal Action Over the Fraud of Plastic Recycling

Source: https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/new-report-makes-the-case-for-legal-action-over-the-fraud-of-plastic-recycling

Author: Center For Climate Integrity

WASHINGTON - Big Oil and the plastics industry have created and perpetuated a decades-long campaign of fraud and deception about the recyclability of plastics that has directly fueled the plastic waste crisis, according to a new report from the Center for Climate Integrity that features never-before-published internal industry sources.

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Export volumes of plastic waste to Asia are increasing significantly

Source: https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/exportmengen-von-plastikmuell-nach-asien-steigen-deutlich-19518175.html

Author: Frankfurter Allgemeine, translated from German

According to statistics , German plastic waste exports to Asia increased by almost half last year. In 2023, around 158,000 tons of plastic waste were shipped from the Federal Republic to Asia, around 51,000 tons more than a year earlier, the waste disposal association BDE said in response to a dpa request. The information is an estimate: official statistics are available for the first ten months of 2023, and an association projection for the last two.

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EU's municipal waste and recycling rates declined in 2022, Eurostat reports

Source: https://packagingeurope.com/news/eus-municipal-waste-and-recycling-rates-declined-in-2022-eurostat-reports/10986.article

Author: Packaging Europe

Eurostat calculates the amount of municipal waste generated per person in the EU at 513kg in 2022 – down by 19kg from 2021, yet 46kg higher than in 1995 – and an average of 249kg recycled by each citizen, 15kg lower than three years ago. The highest amount of municipal waste is thought to have been generated in Austria at 827kg per person, followed by Denmark at 787kg and Luxembourg at 720kg. Romania (301kg), Poland (364kg), and Estonia (373kg) are named as the lowest waste generators.

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A Battle Over Plastic Recycling Claims Heats Up in California Over ‘Truth in Labeling’ Law

Source: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13022024/battle-over-plastic-recycling-claims-heats-up-in-california/

Author: James Bruggers

Two environmental organizations are challenging a draft state report on California’s “Truth in Labeling” recycling law, saying the preliminary data it contains could allow companies to make broader plastics recycling claims than the 2021 law allows and reveals potentially illegal exports of plastics waste to Mexico. The report is based on data obtained from a survey of facilities that collect, sort and bale a variety of waste for potential recycling, including paper, metals and plastic. 

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Despite recycling efforts, more plastic ends up in incinerators

Source: https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/02/despite-recycling-efforts-more-plastic-ends-up-in-incinerators/

Author: DutchNews

More plastic is ending up in incineration plants and producing harmful CO2 emissions despite efforts to promote recycling, caretaker environment minister Vivianne Heijnen has said in a briefing to MPs. In 2022, some 52% of discarded plastic was burnt, compared to 49% the year before. Much of the plastic waste was contaminated by food residue or chemicals, making it unsuitable for recycling. There was also insufficient capacity at recycling plants, Heijnen said.

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Fiber exports drop 17%, plastic shipments hit record low

Source: https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2024/02/13/fiber-exports-drop-17-plastic-shipments-hit-record-low/

Author: Colin Staub

U.S. recovered paper exports in 2023 reached a 19-year low, driven by major multi-year declines in shipments into key overseas markets. Recovered plastic exports dropped slightly year over year, bringing a record low for another consecutive year. The U.S. Census Bureau, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, recently released December 2023 export figures, allowing for a full-year analysis.

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California State's Own Data Reveals Consumer Plastics Cannot be Claimed as Recyclable and are Being Exported Illegally

Source: https://conta.cc/49fu8ie

Today, two waste watchdog groups, the Basel Action Network (BAN) and The Last Beach Cleanup, published a Fact Briefing detailing that California's recent waste laws, SB343 (1) and AB881 (2), have been consistently violated. Both laws established criteria against violating the Basel Convention, an international treaty that seeks to prevent the global dumping of wastes, particularly from developed to developing countries. However, data collected and reported by the government reveals that California waste facilities are violating the new laws by sending mixed and contaminated plastic wastes to countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, and Mexico.

Download the report: California State's Own Data Reveals Consumer Plastics are not Recyclable and are Being Exported Illegally

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Around the US, illegal dumping creates mental health challenges

Source: https://www.ehn.org/health-effects-of-illegal-dumping-2667075143.html

Author: Noah Daly

MATTAPAN, Mass. — A bird calls through the canopy of autumn leaves as Amenyonah Bossman walks onto Livermore Street. She’s lived just one block away for the past 20 years along with her three sons. Their neighborhood, one of the poorest in Boston, has few spaces to escape urban sprawl. This tree-lined road, nestled between the urban wilds of the Kennebec Marsh and the dense tract of the Pendergast Preventorium Park, is a gift for the community, Bossman tells me. Or at least it could be.

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