Photo by Anh Vy on Unsplash
Utrecht University shows the dark side of the international plastic waste trade
(Rinnovabili.it) – Are we that good at recycling plastic in Europe? The answer is not the one we would like to hear. In fact, about half of it Plastic garbage Products produced in Europe are exported. One of the main destinations – after the Chinese stop in 2018 – is Vietnam.
Out of sight, out of mind? Not exactly. At least that is not the approach taken by a research team from Utrecht University, which, together with Vietnamese colleagues, studied the process of recycling European plastic at Minh Khai Craft Village, Vietnam's largest recycling center.
Things aren't going well at all, as their investigation shows. The waste is not recycled properly, but poses a serious problem for the local population. People live and work here surrounded by toxic fumes created by melted plastic.
Research has found this out 7 million liters of toxic wastewater They are discharged into the village's waterways daily, causing serious environmental impacts. This work shows the contrast between European policies focused on increasing recycling rates and reality Polymer processing centers in the global south.
The researchers express concern over what can be described as a real passing of the buck to villages by plastic manufacturers and traders. Local communities bear the brunt of pollution and health consequences. The conclusions of the study are clear: Focusing solely on increasing recycling rates is neither ethical, circular, nor sustainable.
This is not to demonize the European Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan or the UN negotiations on a global plastics treaty. But the sector cannot be regulated without simultaneous regulation regulate the waste trade.