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Relevant research shows that about 75% of the waste exported globally ends up in Asia, especially Southeast Asia, which has become an important destination for developed countries to export "foreign garbage". At present, the five countries with the most serious marine plastic pollution in the world are all in Asia. Faced with the increasingly serious problem of "foreign garbage", the antipathy of the people in Southeast Asia is growing day by day, and many countries in the region have taken measures to refuse to become the "garbage dumping ground" of developed countries.

Recently, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries have continuously strengthened restrictions on the import of waste, publicly "repatriated" a large amount of garbage to its country of origin, and returned multiple batches of containers filled with garbage from developed countries such as the United States and Canada. Data show that from 2016 to 2018, the import volume of plastic waste in the ASEAN region increased from 837,000 tons to 2.266 million tons, an astonishing increase of 171%. The waste disposal situation in Southeast Asian countries is gradually deteriorating.

The problem of "foreign garbage" seriously troubles many countries in the region

According to public data from the United Nations, so far, only 9% of the world's waste has been recycled, and the rest has been piled up in landfills or discarded in people's living environment. Since China stopped importing "foreign garbage", some developed countries have turned to shipping more "foreign garbage" to Southeast Asian countries.

A report released by Greenpeace Southeast Asia in June this year showed that since 2016, ASEAN countries have become the largest recipients of "foreign garbage" from developed countries. The import volume of plastic waste in many ASEAN countries has continued to increase. Among them, Malaysia imported the largest amount of plastic waste, with a total volume of more than 870,000 tons, an increase of 300% compared with 2016, followed by Vietnam, Thailand ranked third, and Indonesia, which ranked fourth, also had more than 320,000 tons of plastic waste flowing in. This figure soared by nearly 250% in just 12 months. Among them, the countries with the most garbage exports are developed countries such as the United States and Canada.

According to Thai media reports, the "foreign garbage" trade has always been exploiting legal loopholes in waste recycling management. Developed countries such as the United States often export mixed toxic plastic waste to developing countries with the label of "recyclable" for considerations such as processing costs. But in fact, these wastes are either difficult to recycle or not recycled at all, and can only be landfilled, incinerated or dumped into the ocean, causing great damage to the ecological environment. At the same time, waste exports are often transported to receiving countries through illegal channels, making it difficult for receiving countries that do not have the relevant processing capabilities to cope with them. Many evidences collected by Greenpeace Southeast Asia and other environmental organizations over a long period of time show that these wastes have caused significant harm to the local environment, and residents living in nearby polluted areas have become direct victims of toxic landfills.

At present, Indonesia, the world's second largest source of marine plastic pollutants, is simply unable to cope with the heavy burden of additional "foreign garbage". "Indonesia is at a critical stage in dealing with the problem of plastic waste. We are overwhelmed by dealing with Chinese waste and have no time to take care of waste from abroad." Muharram Lasyadi, a staff member of Greenpeace Indonesia, said.

The practice of developed countries exporting garbage has been widely criticized

In May this year, at the 14th Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention held in Switzerland, more than 180 countries around the world amended the convention and decided to include plastic waste in the list of import and export restrictions, aiming to control the transboundary movement of hazardous waste and its disposal. The revised Basel Convention has the greatest impact on the United States, because the new measures will prohibit countries that have not yet ratified the convention from exporting listed garbage.

Although the United States signed the convention in 1990, Congress has been slow to approve it, so the United States is still an "outsider" of this important environmental convention. Data show that in 2018, the United States exported 157,000 large containers of plastic waste to developing countries. Supporters of the convention hope that changes in the amendment will force developed countries to take the initiative to solve the waste problems they have created, rather than evading these problems by passing them on to developing countries. At present, the United States has expressed opposition to the revised agreement.

In an interview with the media, Yeo Bee Yin, Malaysia's Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Climate Change and Environment, said that developed countries must be responsible for the waste they produce. Some plastic waste sent to Malaysia violates the convention. It is unfair for developed countries to dump waste in developing countries such as Malaysia. "The amendment to the convention is the first step in solving the global problem of waste transfer from developed to developing countries." Yeo Bee Yin said.

It is imperative to formulate relevant emergency policies and bans

At present, countries are stepping up the formulation of "foreign garbage" bans and related emergency policies. According to reports, the Thai government announced that it will ban the import of plastic waste by 2021; Malaysia has stopped issuing new plastic waste import licenses; Vietnam has also stopped issuing new waste import licenses, and has cracked down more severely on the illegal transportation of "foreign garbage", mainly because the country's ports have accumulated thousands of containers containing waste paper, plastic and metal waste, causing public concerns about environmental pollution.

Recently, Southeast Asian countries have become increasingly tough in rejecting "foreign garbage". On August 13, an Indonesian official said that Indonesia had returned hundreds of tons of garbage to Australia, indicating the Indonesian government's firm position on banning the import of "foreign garbage". In addition, officials on Batam Island in Indonesia recently announced the return of 42 boxes of "foreign garbage" found, which came from the United States, Australia and Germany.

Experts pointed out that developed countries such as the United States, as garbage exporting countries, can no longer push their problems to others as they did in the past, but should actually solve their own garbage surplus problems. There is evidence that the relevant traders of "foreign garbage" are looking for areas with incomplete regulations or weak restrictions to continue related activities.

Other experts suggested that the production and use of plastic products should be regulated from the source, such as promoting the adoption of environmentally friendly products through the formulation of reasonable policies, while encouraging producers to meet consumers' demand for minimized, functional and environmentally friendly packaging.

(Xu Wei, our reporter in Indonesia, Jakarta, September 16)

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