U.S. could be outlier if UN clinches plastic waste pact - Agricultural Commodities - Reuters
▻https://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL5N22I4PC
• U.N. negotiations seek deal on trade in plastic waste
• Norway proposal would require importer’s prior consent
• U.S. is a leading major plastics exporter, but not in treaty
Countries are nearing agreement to tighten controls on trade in plastic waste, which would make it harder for leading exporter the United States to ship unsorted plastic to emerging Asian economies for disposal, campaigners said on Tuesday.
Global public outrage has grown at marine pollution, sparking demands for more recycling and better waste management. Only 9 percent of plastic is recycled, environmental groups say.
Germany, the United States and Japan each exported more than 1 billion kilos of plastic waste last year, U.N. figures show.
There is an estimated 100 million tonnes of plastic in the world’s seas, with 8 million tonnes added annually, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says.
Officials from 187 countries taking part in UNEP negotiations are considering legally-binding amendments to the Basel Convention on waste that would regulate trade in discarded plastic.
The United States has not ratified the 30-year-old pact.
[…]
Any plastic that goes on this so-called Annex 2 could not be traded between parties and non-parties to the Basel treaty.
“That would prevent the U.S. from sending - it would only allow the U.S. to export plastic waste that is already sorted, cleaned and ready for recycling,” Azoulay said.
“Which is exactly the type of waste they don’t send around because it has value.”
Though outside of the pact, the United States could ship plastic waste under bilateral deals if the equivalent of environmental standards under Basel are guaranteed, experts say.