Plastics : The hidden truth about our waste

What happens to our waste:

• Rich countries claim they are getting better at managing waste. 
• They say they're sending less trash to landfills and recycling more. 
• The uncomfortable truth: we haven't gotten better at creating less waste, we have just gotten better at hiding it by sending it to poor countries.

How the global trash trade started:

The 1970s problem:

• America wanted to clean up its environment
• This made it expensive to get rid of dangerous waste in the US (around $250 per ton)
• Companies looked for cheaper options abroad
• The solution: ship trash to countries where it cost only a few dollars per ton to dump.

Example: The Khian sea

• A rusty old ship left Delaware in 1986 carrying toxic ash
• It sailed around the world for years trying to find somewhere to dump its dangerous cargo
• Most countries refused, so it probably dumped the waste in the ocean

The "Recycling" trick:

• When dumping toxic waste became controversial, companies got smarter about naming it
• Instead of calling it "waste dumping," they called it "recycling opportunities"
• They claimed some countries could benefit from processing our trash
• This made the trade seem helpful rather than harmful

What really happens to our trash:

Where our waste actually goes:

• Entire neighborhoods in cities are built around processing our electronic waste
• Workers get paid a few dollars to take apart old phones and computers with their bare hands
• After removing valuable metals, they burn the rest, releasing toxic fumes
• Workers with little training take apart massive cruise ships
• Toxic materials from these ships get buried in the countryside
• Paper mills import used paper from Western countries
• But the bales also contain lots of plastic waste
• Villages dry this plastic waste and sell it as fuel to other factories

What is actually happening:

• Rich countries haven't reduced their waste, they have just moved it
• Poor countries suffer environmental damage and health problems
• The "recycling" often involves burning or burying toxic materials
• Workers in these countries face dangerous conditions for very little pay
• The bigger picture: rich countries look cleaner by moving their waste to poorer places.

The real fix is simple but difficult to implement:

• Make the companies that create the waste pay for properly recycling it (Extended Producer Responsability)
• Tech companies, cruise ship operators, and plastic manufacturers should be financially responsible for their products from start to finish
• This would force them to create less wasteful products