The EU reacted to China’s refusal to process imported plastic garbage. Plastic packaging, intended for single use, will soon be simply banned
China decided to abandon the processing of plastic debris imported from other countries. And now in 12 years, by 2030, plastic packaging will be banned. The European Union unsuccessfully tried to negotiate with China to establish a transition period of several years in order to have time to prepare for independent recycling of waste. The PRC refused to recycle other people’s rubbish. And this decision is very significant for the EU, whose countries annually hand over about 1.5 million tons of plastic garbage for processing to China. So, in the future, plastic packaging, perhaps, will simply disappear from the world market.
The first vice-president of the European Commission said that the plastic must be eliminated from ingestion into food, water and even the body. The only worthwhile decision so far can only be the limitation of the amount of waste due to their processing.
France Timmermans urges Europe to accept China’s challenge not as a problem, but even as an opportunity and a push to improve. Of course, losses from brexite are hard to make up. But one solution in the current situation may be a high tax on the use of plastic packaging. But so far this idea has not been supported with tax. More hope for persuasion. Timmermans says that you need to tell the children that their favorite straws for cocktails in the natural environment decompose to 500 years. The situation can not improve even without uniform standards for recycling and processing of plastics.
And although it is customary for Europeans, for example, to sort garbage by different containers, depending on the material. Plastic packaging – in one container, glass – in the other, paper – in the next and the like. But this is not effective on a global scale. After all, only a third of the 25 million tons produced annually by the EU plastic is recycled.
Waste management is a global problem. According to official data, worldwide, only fourteen percent of plastic waste is recycled. Great hopes are placed in this case on robots that will sort and move garbage to the right conveyors.
