India banned trash imports 

Speaking of the fact that Europe is a record holder in waste recycling, people usually forget to clarify that it does not do the dirty work by itself. The bulk of the waste is exported to other countries that use it as raw material or for processing. However, this practice seems to have outlived itself: at the end of 2017, China restricted the import of foreign plastic, and this spring India imposed a full ban on its import.

The Indian government explains its decision by the need to "reduce the gap between the volume of waste production and the possibilities of recycling". India today is not able to cope with its own plastic garbage, and the reception of someone else has long become a kind of altruism. “Decisions made now determine our common future. Making the right choice today is not easy, but an understanding of the problem, the development of technology and cooperation with other countries will help us to do the right thing”, says Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Today India is not able to cope with its own plastic trash, photo WEB

In their decision, the Indians followed China, which just over a year ago imposed a strict ban on the import of plastic trash. Recycling of off-spec plastics is expensive, and the final product is hard to sell, so the Chinese government now only allows the import of high-quality waste. As a result, the volume of foreign plastic, floating in China, fell by 95%, and today it is 16 thousand tons per year.

The China's refusal indiscriminately to accept someone else's trash instantly caused a storm of emotions in the EU countries and the USA, who actively put the care of their garbage on others' shoulders. Suddenly, the danger of turning the European and American world into a big dump became a reality, but the countries of Southeast Asia came to the rescue: Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, India. Such a decision on the redistribution of the waste stream was initially temporary, since it is now impossible to cope with the problem in the usual way, but no one has yet offered any alternative options.

Dump in Germany, photo WEB

It is noteworthy that other designated states that accept alien garbage do not have sufficient production capacity for its processing. For example, in Malaysia, waste is often simply stored in a free coastal area, from which it is easily washed into the ocean, causing catastrophic damage to the environment. But this, it seems, is no longer a problem for importers.

For this reason, the ounties won't rethink the methods of packaging and consumption, as long as it is possible to send disposable plastic to where it will no longer remind of itself ... However, in the near future, America and the EU countries will still have to live with their own garbage and then will be forced to find fundamentally new ways to reuse and recycle it.

Malaysia. Plastic waste dump in the coastal city of Janjaron, photo WEB

Probably, India will become the first country to introduce an absolute ban on the production and use of disposable plastic products. Today, 25 thousand tons of plastic waste is produced daily in the territory of this state, and only half is recycled. The country accepted additional volume also from abroad. Gradually, the situation reached its apogee, and last year the Indian government announced that it would even take drastic measures, but abandon all disposable plastics by 2022. Methods for implementing the ambitious plan were not covered, and now, almost a year later, India has begun to cleanse its territory by refusing to import foreign waste. The country also plans to clear 7.5 thousand kilometers of the coastal line and about a hundred landmarks and monuments, including the Taj Mahal.

“We cannot allow material well-being to become more important than the state of ecology”, said Modi. And this seems to be the most relevant slogan for all mankind, the only true today, when it is not too late to restore health to the planet, and the future to people.

Victoria Romanova, Russia, Moscow

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