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I see where you’re coming from, but the way the western countries managed their garbage problem was to send it to those especially unprepared countries (think:
by rpastuszak 4y ago
I see where you’re coming from, but the way the western countries managed their garbage problem was to send it to those especially unprepared countries (think: sending container ships with trash from the US to China).
I think you’re mixing a perceived sense of responsibility and power dynamics.
A better solution would involve putting more effort in helping those poorer countries have the means to handle these problems better. It’s the 21st century, we’re much more intertwined than we’ve ever been.
- ars 4y ago> think: sending container ships with trash from the US to China That's not a real thing. It's a persistent myth, but it's not actually real.
- rpastuszak 4y agoOf course it is. Just read up on "China Waste Import Ban". > China is the largest importer of waste plastics, accounting for 56% of the global market.[1] Meanwhile, the United States, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom are the main source countries.[1] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6010324/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6010324/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%27s_waste_import_ban https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%27s_waste_import_ban https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-... https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/china-has-stopped-accepting-our-trash/584131/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/china... https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/climate/recycling-landfills-plastic-papers.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/climate/recycling-landfil... I do wish I was wrong though. Again, we cannot afford to think only locally any more. We're much more interconnected.