This country situation report from Russia analyzes the state of the plastics market, from production to imports and exports, with special focus on the plastics waste markets, where toxic chemical additives are recycled along with base plastic types. It concludes with a summary of how the extended producer responsibility principle works in Russia.
This country situation report from Indonesia summarizes the policies and regulations in Indonesia, the petrochemical industry, the plastics industry, and plastics waste imports and exports, concluding with an analysis of the public and environmental burden and the challenges and steps needed to transition to a circular economy.
IPEN, Arnika and 16 European NGOs call on leaders to lower threshold values for POPs in waste, which enter recycling and waste exports
Wednesday, 22 December 2021
The problem: the European Commission currently proposes industry friendly ‘middle-ground’ POP limits for waste based on economic criteria instead of strong and health-protective values.
The European Commission (EC) is proposing to adopt new limit values for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in waste. The Stockholm Convention requires the destruction of wastes that exceed POPs limit values (known as Low POP Content Levels set by the Basel Convention) and bans the recycling of wastes contaminated with POPs to maintain toxic-free material cycles. However, the EC is proposing weak POP limits, which will allow plastic and other wastes contaminated with POPs to be, in practice, recycled by industry in the EU. The transition to high-quality and toxic-free material cycles cannot be achieved while allowing POPs recycling in materials.
IPEN, Arnika, and 16 NGOs urge in their letter to Members of the European Parliament and Member States to support stronger limit values for POPs in waste than what the EC proposes. The weak limits currently proposed by the EC undermine the Stockholm Convention and will lead to POPs recycling that is incompatible with the European Green Deal.
European Commission Proposal for amending Annexes IV and V to the Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 of the European Parliament and of the Council on persistent organic pollutants: An opportunity for the EU to prevent toxic recycling and contamination of the circular economy through the substantial strengthening of limit values for POPs in waste
Civil society comments and briefing for European Union Member States and Members of the European Parliament
Over the course of this project, India witnessed a massive surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country. The use of chemicals such as sanitizers, disinfectants, hand washes, soaps, etc. has increased during the pandemic to mitigate the effects of the virus. Additionally, during the pandemic, products such as masks, sanitizers, hand gloves, shields, etc. have contributed to increasing household waste, as well as plastic waste.
The COVID-19 pandemic has already had negative effects on waste management, significantly contributing to increases in medical waste and household waste, and a substantial slowdown in recycling efforts. This upsurge in hazardous waste particularly endangers developing countries that are destinations for waste exports via the global waste trade.
While governments of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have individually taken action to address incidents of illegal waste shipments from affluent and more developed countries, the 10-member bloc has yet to unify and boost up efforts to protect the region from the drawbacks and hazards of the global waste trade.
Released in time for the commemoration of the ASEAN Month, the report titled “Waste Trade in Southeast Asia: Legal Justifications for Regional Action” notes the lack of a common and regional response to the waste trade issue despite headline-grabbing dumping controversies that hit Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand in recent years.
Published by the environmental health and justice group EcoWaste Coalition with the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), the report finds the current legal and policy responses inadequate to stop the entry of illegal waste, and more importantly, insufficient to protect the health of both people and the environment.
Orange bags filled with plastic waste in Boise. A recycling effort to turn this garbage into diesel fuel failed. It is now burned in a cement plant. REUTERS/Brian Losness
A Case Study of Muoroto Slum in Mombasa, Kenya, by Eco Ethics Kenya provides a valuable insight into the management of plastic waste and its adverse impacts on the environment and health of those vulnerable communities, especially artisanal recyclers, who carry a disproportionate burden. This case study underpins the recommendations made by Eco Ethics Kenya for urgent action to protect the informal waste sector through better training, support and worker safety protections.