Green Junction: latest research on micro and nanoplastics on Monday, January 23rd. By Julie Peller Ph.D.
putzmanmusing.substack.com
When the statistics on plastic waste are analyzed, it is quite clear that recycling of plastics has mostly failed. The vast majority of this waste has been buried, burned or is polluting in the environment. The plastics industry has been a strong force behind plastic recycling. In the 1970s and 1980s, it encouraged American municipalities to initiate or expand plastic recycling programs to ensure a positive view of plastic materials. However, by the 1990s, much of the collected plastic was shipped overseas to lower income countries for sorting and processing. Since these countries have limited regulations for processing these waste materials, this has been viewed as environmental dumping by many who study the waste problem. An agreement was put in place to restrict limits on exports of plastic waste from richer countries to poorer ones, but trade data from two years ago shows that the US continues to ship much of its collected plastic overseas.
Green Junction: latest research on micro and nanoplastics on Monday, January 23rd. By Julie Peller Ph.D.
Green Junction: latest research on micro and…
Green Junction: latest research on micro and nanoplastics on Monday, January 23rd. By Julie Peller Ph.D.
When the statistics on plastic waste are analyzed, it is quite clear that recycling of plastics has mostly failed. The vast majority of this waste has been buried, burned or is polluting in the environment. The plastics industry has been a strong force behind plastic recycling. In the 1970s and 1980s, it encouraged American municipalities to initiate or expand plastic recycling programs to ensure a positive view of plastic materials. However, by the 1990s, much of the collected plastic was shipped overseas to lower income countries for sorting and processing. Since these countries have limited regulations for processing these waste materials, this has been viewed as environmental dumping by many who study the waste problem. An agreement was put in place to restrict limits on exports of plastic waste from richer countries to poorer ones, but trade data from two years ago shows that the US continues to ship much of its collected plastic overseas.