We have to deal with our own crap--it is no longer somebody else's problem!
"We" as in even right here in Eugene: "On Thursday, the reverberations of China’s tough stance reached Sam Miller, owner of Lane Apex."
What does Lane Apex do? "picks up curbside commingled recyclables such as plastics, unsorted paper, cardboard and metal cans from homes in Eugene."
What has this got to do with China?
China, by far the world’s biggest importer and reprocessor of recyclables, has put the United States on notice that this fall and early next year, it will begin turning away all but the most pristine used plastics and unsorted waste paper.Of course, it is not merely Eugene:
With China’s looming ban, the entire West Coast system for sorting and shipping off recyclables is beginning to slow down, as the industry realizes it may not be able to get rid of the stuffBack in 1987, when I was new to this country, one of the interesting stories for me was about the barge from New York that was on the sea and for thousands of miles--the gar-barge. The awesomely rich geographic areas have always used poorer ones as their dumping grounds. China used to be one of those poorer areas. Not anymore. It is now an economic and political power in the world. And it is no longer interested in other people's garbage.
“It could have a negative impact on recycling in general, as the system has relied on China for so long now,” said Brent Bell, vice president of recycling for Waste Management, the largest waste-service provider in the U.S. If the Chinese market is no-longer available, some experts question whether U.S. municipal recycling programs can remain viable, or if many of the products now considered “recyclable” will be reclassified as garbage bound for landfills.How did this export of garbage to China come about?
For decades, the market for recycling exports has benefited thanks to the massive U.S.-China trade deficit. With more container ships arriving on U.S. shores then heading the other way, shippers were desperate for anything they could find for the return trip.Let's see. China makes a whole bunch of stuff, while polluting its air, water, and land, and while treating its people like shit. We buy the stuff that we really do not need, and generate a whole lot of recyclable trash. But, we don't want to pay for the processing of the recyclables. We put them in the empty containers and sent them to China. Now, it is time to pay the piper!
“And the thing they chose was scrap materials,” Moore told Bloomberg BNA. “Because of discounts the shipping companies offered, it ended up being cheaper to send that stuff to China than to process it here.”
Meanwhile, we have shifted to online shopping because, well, we don't have enough time to spend on Facbook and Instagram and whatever else and, therefore, we can't be bothered to go to the store round the corner to get a roll of toilet paper. We place orders online, and they are delivered with a whole lot of packing materials.
“Online retailers like Amazon still need cardboard boxes and most comes from China,” said Jakob Rindegren, the recycling policy adviser of the U.K. association.
One corrugated box retailer on the online shopping site Taobao reached by Reuters, said the price of cardboard boxes had nearly doubled since the end of August to 8.8 yuan ($1.33) each.
As I wrote in this post on recycling, two years ago--almost to the very date:
I am especially drawn to issues like this because we are forced to think through the complications and question our own preferred ideas on how to make this world a better place for tomorrow. A constant examination, a Socratic questioning, in which there is no sacred cow, so to speak.
The solution to all these is simple, right? Consume less, and take care of your own shit!
2 comments:
There are a number of angles to this story. In some ways this trade in garbage was good. China recycled most of the materials and the economic incentive was simply because prices of every commodity was booming and garbage was a cheap source of material that could be recycled. In this way China was a great benefactor to the world as it recycled stuff which otherwise could not be recycled - in your country the word recycling is not even in the dictionary.
The real trouble for China came when every country resorted to dumping unsorted garbage on to China. China then found that the recyclers were simply throwing away material that could not be recycled and a big environmental problem was happening. The trigger to action came when they found 100 tonnes of radioactive material that landed up in Xinjiang as garbage. Then they found all sorts of medical waste including blood contaminated stuff coming from the US mixed with general garbage.
What China has done is only to ban unsorted garbage and those which cannot be recycled. They are happy to take material which can be recycled and non hazardous garbage. So they are saying they will take your shit as long as it smells good !
"in your country the word recycling is not even in the dictionary"
Not true by any means. Especially here in Oregon. We are leaders in this. Way back, Oregonians were the pioneers even with the famous "bottle bill" ...
When I travel to other states, I am shocked at how paper/plastic/aluminum recycling bins are not to be found in public places.
Anyway, yes, China is tightening up on the unsorted garbage and the plastics that cannot be recycled. But, that is all that is needed to upset the recycling collection business here. If we need to sort it here, either residents ought to do that, or we have to pay for the labor to do it. All this when recycling is not really profitable.
But, more than anything else, I have always believed that countries ought to clean up their own shit. Or, pay somebody for it. Recycling plastics and paper is merely one of the many complaints that I have. The problems are worse with electronic wastes. Ship breaking. ... the list is endless.
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