How much plastic waste have you put in your recycling bin today, just from your groceries?
It’s hard to avoid plastic packaging in our daily lives. We’re so often told that recycling is the answer. But how many of us know where the plastic waste we put aside to recycle actually ends up?
Much of our plastic waste is shipped to Turkey and Southeast Asia for recycling. In many of these plastic recycling sites, workers and local communities suffer from respiratory problems, severe headaches and skin conditions. All because of toxins emitted from recycling plastics. [1] And vulnerable people - children, refugees and undocumented migrants - also work at these recycling sites. [2]
The European Parliament has already called for the EU to stop dumping its plastic waste abroad, by calling for a full plastic waste export ban. And all EU countries are already part of an international treaty that is supposed to protect us from waste. [3] The only thing standing in the way is our own governments.
A ban on exports of plastic waste would also force the EU to rethink its entire approach to plastic production and pollution and be a step in the right direction.
If we win, not only will we have stopped the exploitative practice of exporting our plastic waste and pollution (and all the problems that come with it). But also, when faced with the true scale of the problem, our politicians will have to reduce plastic waste overall, by establishing new, sustainable reuse and refill systems.
