After being rejected by China, hundreds of tons of waste were shipped to their home country, Britain, last December. But Chinese excitement over the news did not last long. The UK environment department admitted in a recent document that the country "exports" 12 million tonnes of classified waste each year to developing countries such as China, India and Indonesia. Of this, about 2 million tonnes of waste is shipped to China each year. The UK also acknowledges that much of the waste is simply buried in these countries.

This is not a new topic, and many developed countries are exporting their garbage with impunity. According to the US International Trade Commission, from 2000 to 2011, the value of China's garbage imports from the US soared from an initial $740 million to $11.54 billion. Previous investigations by Japanese media have found that the country exports up to 10 million tons of garbage overseas every year, and the main export is also to China. At the same time, some electronic and medical waste is also transferred out by many developed countries in the name of "poverty alleviation donations".

For these waste importing countries, the harm is obvious. After being illegally buried, the electronic and plastic waste often does not degrade for hundreds of years; If it is deposited, it can contaminate soil and groundwater with wind and rain, and spread bacteria. In Somalia, when floods strike, the toxic substances contained in "ocean trash" seep into the groundwater, which destroys fishing resources and is one of the reasons for piracy. Eventually, these toxic substances can "take root" in the human body, and many people pay the health price.

Naturally, there is no business without making money. The UK "produces" more than 27 million tonnes of household waste each year, costing ¡ê2.6 billion a year to collect and dispose of. Many waste companies are willing to export their waste. Local authorities pay a fee of 35 pounds per tonne. On the other hand, they save a lot of money on waste disposal. What's more, these companies can make a lot of money from the importers. And for those importing countries, many people are getting rich.

In what appears to be a win-win deal, developed countries have easily shifted the problem of waste disposal, but the costs of environmental pollution to developing countries far outweigh the benefits. The fact that developed countries, led by Britain, have always claimed to be "green first" undermines their "green credentials". This is not surprising if one looks at the "carbon transfer" issue that has received much attention in recent years. Most of Britain's consumer goods are produced in developing countries, where the corresponding greenhouse gas emissions are accounted for, and its own emissions are doing "quite well".

More than 20 years ago, Lawrence Summers, an American, made an economic case for the "rationality" of developed countries transferring their pollution to developing countries. He declared that air pollution levels in sparsely populated countries in Africa were low compared with those in heavily polluted cities such as Los Angeles and Mexico City, so it was "appropriate" on economic cost grounds to dump pollution into developing countries that were still "less polluted". Today, Summers is still criticized by many as a "poster boy" for "ecological imperialism." At the very least, we see shades of "eco-imperialism" when the British government turns a blind eye to waste exports.

However, this is no longer the era when developed countries can do whatever they want. Today, many developing countries are putting on a show to get rid of "foreign trash". In the words of the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, "As China's environmental awareness awakens, it will be increasingly difficult for foreign garbage to be imported into the country." (Zhao Haijian, media commentator)

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