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I'd guess that it's cheaper to ship a lot of garbage to developing countries.

hmottestad 2y ago
In Oslo we import trash from the other European countries and then transport a bunch of our own trash to Sweden. Seemingly all because of some carbon emissions taxes in Norway. https://www.nrk.no/norge/fyller-ovnene-med-importsoppel-samtidig-som-vart-eget-avfall-sendes-til-sverige-1.16663844 https://www.nrk.no/norge/fyller-ovnene-med-importsoppel-samt...
toast0 2y ago
Oregon is a lot closer, and they accept a lot of trash from my state by rail. No need to put it on a boat.
gruez 2y ago
Is it? Land is dirt cheap in the US. Surely it's cheaper to bury it locally than ship it half way across the world? Even for the plastic that's being shipped half way across the world, they're ostensibly done for recycling purposes (ie. they're buying the plastic waste), and the unrecycleable plastics end up being mismanaged.
- lobsterthief 2y ago
  You are correct. In the US at least, land is dirt cheap. Transporting stuff is not cheap. For this reason, it’s common for some US states to ship garbage to other US states for disposal, simply because geographically it makes economic sense.
- ngruhn 2y ago
  I’ve heard, shipping a lot of garbage to China was quite common until the Chinese banned it. That was economically viable because China exports so much and many container ships would otherwise return empty to China.
  - flavius29663 2y ago
    It was viable only because we were shipping "recyclables" that had to be "recycled" by contract, not pure garbage that could have just been buried. Sorting through that whole mess of "recyclables" was more expensive than shipping it to China and letting them just burn or bury it.
    - gruez 2y ago
      >Sorting through that whole mess of "recyclables" was more expensive than shipping it to China and letting them just burn or bury it. I thought they didn't bother and just buried it if it wasn't profitable. >GONZALEZ: Whoa. Oh, I've been doing that one wrong. So the city of Nogales went around to everyone's house this morning and picked up their recyclables. [...] And they brought them here. And where is all this going to go? >GALLEGO: Trash. >GONZALEZ: The recycling is going into the trash. I am watching pristine beer bottles and juice cartons and cardboard boxes get smushed into a pile of wet, gooey, dripping food waste and soggy diapers. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/741283641 https://www.npr.org/transcripts/741283641
      - bluGill 2y ago
        > I thought they didn't bother and just buried it if it wasn't profitable. The point is to cheat. Say you recycle and ensure that there are enough links in the chain nobody can follow it to the end and prove the stuff you ship to China wasn't recycled. China did recycle some stuff, but most of it wasn't. China decided to stop participating in that scam though.
      - flavius29663 2y ago
        > I thought they didn't bother and just buried it if it wasn't profitable. In my county, they are obliged by the contract to NOT bury the mixed recyclables. So they used to offload it to some companies that would then also promise not to bury them (pinky promise), and ship them to China. Contracts in China are then not so easy to follow and enforce and voila, problem is now somewhere else.
  - fragmede 2y ago
- rtkwe 2y ago
  Land close enough to cities to be reasonable to truck garbage to is less plentiful though and you have to factor in the costs of properly containing and processing that garbage.
  - simmonmt 2y ago
    That's true, but NYC still ships trash all over the place: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/8714ca7999a64704b59721cd5ca73c03 https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/8714ca7999a64704b59721c... At the end of the day it has to go somewhere, and there's no room for it in the five boroughs, so they pay what they need to pay. And it's still cheaper than sending it overseas (otherwise they would).
    - rtkwe 2y ago
      NYC is a bit of a special case for a lot of things due to it's size/density and location. Most places don't ship their waste that far from it's origin because it's expensive.

In Oslo we import trash from the other European countries and then transport a bunch of our own trash to Sweden. Seemingly all because of some carbon emissions taxes in Norway. https://www.nrk.no/norge/fyller-ovnene-med-importsoppel-samtidig-som-vart-eget-avfall-sendes-til-sverige-1.16663844 https://www.nrk.no/norge/fyller-ovnene-med-importsoppel-samt...

toast0 2y ago

Oregon is a lot closer, and they accept a lot of trash from my state by rail. No need to put it on a boat.

gruez 2y ago

Is it? Land is dirt cheap in the US. Surely it's cheaper to bury it locally than ship it half way across the world? Even for the plastic that's being shipped half way across the world, they're ostensibly done for recycling purposes (ie. they're buying the plastic waste), and the unrecycleable plastics end up being mismanaged.

lobsterthief 2y ago
You are correct. In the US at least, land is dirt cheap. Transporting stuff is not cheap. For this reason, it’s common for some US states to ship garbage to other US states for disposal, simply because geographically it makes economic sense.
ngruhn 2y ago
I’ve heard, shipping a lot of garbage to China was quite common until the Chinese banned it. That was economically viable because China exports so much and many container ships would otherwise return empty to China.
- flavius29663 2y ago
  It was viable only because we were shipping "recyclables" that had to be "recycled" by contract, not pure garbage that could have just been buried. Sorting through that whole mess of "recyclables" was more expensive than shipping it to China and letting them just burn or bury it.
  - gruez 2y ago
    >Sorting through that whole mess of "recyclables" was more expensive than shipping it to China and letting them just burn or bury it. I thought they didn't bother and just buried it if it wasn't profitable. >GONZALEZ: Whoa. Oh, I've been doing that one wrong. So the city of Nogales went around to everyone's house this morning and picked up their recyclables. [...] And they brought them here. And where is all this going to go? >GALLEGO: Trash. >GONZALEZ: The recycling is going into the trash. I am watching pristine beer bottles and juice cartons and cardboard boxes get smushed into a pile of wet, gooey, dripping food waste and soggy diapers. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/741283641 https://www.npr.org/transcripts/741283641
    - bluGill 2y ago
      > I thought they didn't bother and just buried it if it wasn't profitable. The point is to cheat. Say you recycle and ensure that there are enough links in the chain nobody can follow it to the end and prove the stuff you ship to China wasn't recycled. China did recycle some stuff, but most of it wasn't. China decided to stop participating in that scam though.
    - flavius29663 2y ago
      > I thought they didn't bother and just buried it if it wasn't profitable. In my county, they are obliged by the contract to NOT bury the mixed recyclables. So they used to offload it to some companies that would then also promise not to bury them (pinky promise), and ship them to China. Contracts in China are then not so easy to follow and enforce and voila, problem is now somewhere else.
- fragmede 2y ago
rtkwe 2y ago
Land close enough to cities to be reasonable to truck garbage to is less plentiful though and you have to factor in the costs of properly containing and processing that garbage.
- simmonmt 2y ago
  That's true, but NYC still ships trash all over the place: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/8714ca7999a64704b59721cd5ca73c03 https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/8714ca7999a64704b59721c... At the end of the day it has to go somewhere, and there's no room for it in the five boroughs, so they pay what they need to pay. And it's still cheaper than sending it overseas (otherwise they would).
  - rtkwe 2y ago
    NYC is a bit of a special case for a lot of things due to it's size/density and location. Most places don't ship their waste that far from it's origin because it's expensive.