According to a new analysis published last week, United Nations data on the global waste trade fails to account for “hidden” plastic in textiles, contaminated paper bales, and other categories, leading to dramatics, a 1.8-million-metric-ton annual underestimate of the amount of plastic that makes its way from the EU, Japan. the UK, and the US to poor countries.
Waste, parings, and scrap of plastics – are often assumed by researchers and policymakers to describe the total volume of plastic that’s traded globally. But the new analysis argues this is only “the tip of the plastic waste iceberg”.More than 10,000 chemicals are used in the production of plastic, and one-fourth of them have been flagged by researchers for their toxicity and potential to build up in the environment and in people’s bodies. The report calls for greater transparency from plastic and petrochemical industries about the chemicals they put in their plastic products, and for regulators to require them to use fewer, nontoxic chemicals.
Without aggressive action to phase down plastic production, the world is on track to have produced a cumulative 26 billion metric tons of plastic waste by 2050, most of which will be incinerated, dumped, or sent to landfills.
Source: https://grist.org/equity/rich-countries-export-twice-as-much-plastic-waste-to-the-developing-world-as-previously-thought/