Since China banned the import of recyclable plastic waste, rich countries no longer know what to do with it. Especially since the volume of used plastic has reached unparalleled levels and no one has really cared about developing suitable solutions to manage all this waste.
It had become the global plastic bin: between 1992 and 2017, China imported 72.4% of all plastic waste destined for recycling, i.e. 170.5 million tonnes in total, reports a recent study. The producing countries, the United States, Japan and Germany at the head, had found there a very practical solution to get rid of this bulky waste. Because, for several decades, the volume of plastic generated in the world has grown exponentially.
From two million tonnes per year in 1950, we reached 322 million tonnes in 2015. In total, 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic were produced on Earth. Cheap, easy to make, popular with consumers, this material has invaded the planet. Unfortunately barely 9% of plastic is recycled and mountains of waste end up in nature and poison the environment.
At the current rate, the ocean will contain more plastic than fish by 2050, experts warn. Indeed, recycling plastic is not so easy. Often it contains toxic additives or is mixed with other materials that cannot be separated. On the other hand, recycling is by far not the most cost-effective solution. For some plastics, the amount of energy obtained by burning them far exceeds that which would be necessary to power the harvesting, sorting and recycling processes.
Often plastic contains toxic additives or is mixed with other materials that cannot be separated. It is therefore not easy to recycle it.
111 million tonnes of plastic waste will remain on our hands
In short, getting rid of the problem by shipping the waste to China has so far been the simplest and cheapest solution. But in 2017 that country said stop: since December 31, the import of non-industrial plastic waste has been prohibited. Indeed the Chinese government has made the fight against pollution one of its priorities and recycling factories contribute significantly to toxic emissions.
China also has to deal with its own waste, the volume of which continues to increase as Western consumption habits develop. The problem is that after years of neglecting the recycling industry, exporting countries suddenly find themselves with mountains of waste to deal with which they do not know what to do. In 2030, 111 million tonnes will fall into disrepair in developed countries if the trend continues.
Thailand and Africa, new global garbage cans?
Without adequate infrastructure or junk removal solutions, most of this waste could simply be buried or burned. In the United States, several states have eased their landfill restrictions in a hurry, and some overwhelmed municipalities have said they will no longer collect certain types of waste.
Neighboring countries of China could also become the new global garbage dumps. Thailand has been invaded since January by out-of-use televisions, mountains of computer keyboards and other photocopiers. In the first five months of the year, imports of electrical and electronic equipment waste (WEEE) increased by 37,000 tonnes compared to last year in this country.
Thailand is not the only one concerned: Cambodia, Laos and several African countries are also seeing their waste imports explode. However these ill-equipped countries use extremely dangerous methods to extract precious metals from electronic products, the plastic being burnt in incinerators, exposing water, air and soil to toxic pollutants.
Encouraging the circular economy
To avoid a disaster scientist appeal to the responsibility of the rich countries. In particular they suggest building more recycling plants, revising product design upstream and reducing the use of non-recyclable materials.
Well managed, our plastic waste constitutes a new source of raw material that can be recycled, they insist. The European Commission, which aims for 100% recycled plastic waste by 2030, has just announced several measures to encourage the circular economy, such as the standardization of products (for example the colors of plastic bottles).
It has also banned cotton swabs, cutlery, plates, straws, or plastic cocktail mixers for single use. New landfill will also be prohibited by 2025. For importing countries that would like to continue importing waste, experts recommend a special tax to finance a real recycling channel. Unfortunately without ambitious measures, the recycling puzzle will become insurmountable.
