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Rumor has it China stop importing plastic after this documentary came out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooRVhRt1p54 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooRVhRt1

by Leary 8y ago

Rumor has it China stop importing plastic after this documentary came out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooRVhRt1p54 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooRVhRt1p54

schiffern 8y ago
Great documentary, thanks. This puts the recent "90% of ocean plastic comes from Asian/African rivers" story[1] in a drastically new light. The issue was previously framed in terms of poor waste management due to lack of infrastructure for native waste (agreed) and uneducated Asian/African consumers (a blame-laundering technique that the disposable product industry has already successfully deployed in the US[2]). But on further examination, it seems the countries with "good infrastructure"[3] and "well-educated wasters" may be part of (or even a majority of) the problem. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16913389 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16913389 [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20050401192355/http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/21651/ https://web.archive.org/web/20050401192355/http://www.altern... [3] "good waste infrastructure" being, in part, a euphemism for "keep that expensive-to-handle waste in a box until it's outside our border so it's technically Not Our Problem"
sundvor 8y ago
I found that really hard to watch, especially the children stepping on deity knows what part. Even then I wish everyone would see it. Humanity sucks sometimes ... if not most of the time.
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  A friend of mine has a chronically homeless brother that still does day jobs (doesn't do drugs so is consistently hired) and he said he was working cleaning out the toxic ashes from trash burning center and was treated badly. "..they made him wear a radioactive exposure badge and fired him when the badge tipped over the safe range." The union bosses wouldn't even go down there and called orders from megaphones. There are videos/photos of many other countries that look much worse than this, think India, even Mexico. Edit: The homeless man I mentioned lives in a major city in the US, not a third world country.
  - lacker 8y ago
    "..they made him wear a radioactive exposure badge and fired him when the badge tipped over the safe range." Isn't that a good thing? You wouldn't want people to be working there to get unsafe radiation exposure.
    - RobertRoberts 8y ago
      The workers were not given any protective gear, these were mainly homeless workers. So, no, I think that it's exploitation. If they had been protected from the radiation, and then got exposed I would agree with you.
  - retzkek 8y ago
    > "..they made him wear a radioactive exposure badge and fired him when the badge tipped over the safe range." Not to defend the company in this case, but I suspect he reached the annual occupational dose limit [1], so unless they had office work for him there probably wasn't anything else to do. This is something migrant radiation workers [2] need to be vigilant about, to make sure they aren't out of work for a year after one job, or at least make sure that job pays them appropriately. [1] https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/part020/part020-1201.html https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/part020/p... [2] Commercial nuclear power plants generally shut down once every 1-2 years for a several-week maintenance and refueling outage, during which time the plant will bring in several hundred extra workers, often contractors, to help. This has created a community of highly-skilled rad workers who travel around the country.
    - RobertRoberts 8y ago
      Sure, this seems reasonable. But this wasn't around radioactive material, it was just trash burners to make electricity. Consider the ramifications of what that means. Also, they weren't given any protective gear, so what use is a badge saying you've been over exposed if it's guaranteed everyone will eventually hit the limit?
      - 8y ago
throw2016 8y ago
Difficult to watch even for the jaded and I suggest those who are sensitive don't. These are all sorts of externalities of out current lifestyles that these poor desperate people have to deal with. This is simply a reflection of an inhuman society we have created, making money is meaningless if you can't take care of your own. Dehumanizing others only dehumanizes ourselves. Its not sustainable and extraordinarily wasteful packaging, convenience lifestyles and abuse of plastic currently benefits too many businesses. Uncontrolled free markets with only concern of profits with no concern for the environment and complete lack of responsibility for other people is solely to be blamed.
AlfeG 8y ago
Great documentary. Thanks. > Oyther countries can handle nuclear process, but cannot handle trash sorting

by Leary 8y ago

Rumor has it China stop importing plastic after this documentary came out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooRVhRt1p54 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooRVhRt1p54

schiffern 8y ago

Great documentary, thanks. This puts the recent "90% of ocean plastic comes from Asian/African rivers" story[1] in a drastically new light. The issue was previously framed in terms of poor waste management due to lack of infrastructure for native waste (agreed) and uneducated Asian/African consumers (a blame-laundering technique that the disposable product industry has already successfully deployed in the US[2]). But on further examination, it seems the countries with "good infrastructure"[3] and "well-educated wasters" may be part of (or even a majority of) the problem. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16913389 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16913389 [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20050401192355/http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/21651/ https://web.archive.org/web/20050401192355/http://www.altern... [3] "good waste infrastructure" being, in part, a euphemism for "keep that expensive-to-handle waste in a box until it's outside our border so it's technically Not Our Problem"

sundvor 8y ago

I found that really hard to watch, especially the children stepping on deity knows what part. Even then I wish everyone would see it. Humanity sucks sometimes ... if not most of the time.

RobertRoberts 8y ago
A friend of mine has a chronically homeless brother that still does day jobs (doesn't do drugs so is consistently hired) and he said he was working cleaning out the toxic ashes from trash burning center and was treated badly. "..they made him wear a radioactive exposure badge and fired him when the badge tipped over the safe range." The union bosses wouldn't even go down there and called orders from megaphones. There are videos/photos of many other countries that look much worse than this, think India, even Mexico. Edit: The homeless man I mentioned lives in a major city in the US, not a third world country.
- lacker 8y ago
  "..they made him wear a radioactive exposure badge and fired him when the badge tipped over the safe range." Isn't that a good thing? You wouldn't want people to be working there to get unsafe radiation exposure.
  - RobertRoberts 8y ago
    The workers were not given any protective gear, these were mainly homeless workers. So, no, I think that it's exploitation. If they had been protected from the radiation, and then got exposed I would agree with you.
- retzkek 8y ago
  > "..they made him wear a radioactive exposure badge and fired him when the badge tipped over the safe range." Not to defend the company in this case, but I suspect he reached the annual occupational dose limit [1], so unless they had office work for him there probably wasn't anything else to do. This is something migrant radiation workers [2] need to be vigilant about, to make sure they aren't out of work for a year after one job, or at least make sure that job pays them appropriately. [1] https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/part020/part020-1201.html https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/part020/p... [2] Commercial nuclear power plants generally shut down once every 1-2 years for a several-week maintenance and refueling outage, during which time the plant will bring in several hundred extra workers, often contractors, to help. This has created a community of highly-skilled rad workers who travel around the country.
  - RobertRoberts 8y ago
    Sure, this seems reasonable. But this wasn't around radioactive material, it was just trash burners to make electricity. Consider the ramifications of what that means. Also, they weren't given any protective gear, so what use is a badge saying you've been over exposed if it's guaranteed everyone will eventually hit the limit?
    - 8y ago

throw2016 8y ago

Difficult to watch even for the jaded and I suggest those who are sensitive don't. These are all sorts of externalities of out current lifestyles that these poor desperate people have to deal with. This is simply a reflection of an inhuman society we have created, making money is meaningless if you can't take care of your own. Dehumanizing others only dehumanizes ourselves. Its not sustainable and extraordinarily wasteful packaging, convenience lifestyles and abuse of plastic currently benefits too many businesses. Uncontrolled free markets with only concern of profits with no concern for the environment and complete lack of responsibility for other people is solely to be blamed.

AlfeG 8y ago

Great documentary. Thanks. > Oyther countries can handle nuclear process, but cannot handle trash sorting