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I was under the impression that Americans landfilled their garbage. I don't doubt that waste export is a thing, but is it really that large a proportion?
by munch117 2y ago
I was under the impression that Americans landfilled their garbage. I don't doubt that waste export is a thing, but is it really that large a proportion?
- Etheryte 2y agoThe US is the only country in the developed world that hasn't ratified the Basel Convention [0] and the US exports close to a billion tons of plastic waste to other countries per year [1]. The trash you see building up in third world countries is in large part from the United States, not from those countries themselves. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basel_Convention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basel_Convention [1] https://www.invw.org/2022/04/18/rich-countries-are-illegally-exporting-plastic-trash-to-poor-countries-data-suggests/ https://www.invw.org/2022/04/18/rich-countries-are-illegally...
- munch117 2y agoAccording to [2] 35.7 million tons of plastic waste is produced per year, and 0.61 million tons are exported. That leaves 35 million tons, and with only 5% being recycled, there's plenty of plastic left to go into 'rivers, oceans, everywhere'. [2] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-us-recycled-just-5-percent-of-its-plastic-in-2021-180980052/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-us-recycled-ju...