XPost: sci.environment.waste, sac.politics, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: democrat-criminals@mail.house.gov   
      
   https://qz.com/2155412/shipping-lines-are-refusing-to-export-the-wests-   
   plastic-waste/?utm_source=YPL   
      
   As of today (April 15), the world’s third largest shipping line, will no   
   longer accept deliveries of scrap plastic on any of its ships. CMA CGM’s   
   ban is a milestone in a global backlash against wealthy nations—especially   
   the US—dumping plastic waste in China and Southeast Asia.   
      
   China used to be the biggest destination for scrap plastic; in 1992, the   
   country imported 72% of all plastic waste, which it would recycle and use   
   in manufacturing. But as China’s economy has grown, so has its domestic   
   plastic waste output. Now the country has plenty of its own plastic to   
   recycle, without accepting imports from abroad.   
      
   China began limiting plastic imports in 2017 through a policy initiative   
   dubbed Operation National Sword. Western countries scrambled to divert   
   their plastic exports to southeast Asian nations like Malaysia and   
   Indonesia, but these countries also banned or limited plastic imports in   
   2019. As a result of these import restrictions, US plastic scrap exports   
   have fallen more than 70%.   
      
   Shipping lines ditch plastic scrap shipments   
   As China and its neighbors began limiting plastic imports, shipping lines   
   became wary of accepting scrap plastic cargo. Receiving countries might   
   refuse to accept the scrap plastic, forcing shipping lines to dump the   
   cargo or carry it back where it came from. “Because of this increased   
   risk, it no longer makes economic sense for shipping lines to keep   
   carrying plastic,” said Aditya Vedantam, an assistant professor of   
   management at the University of Buffalo, who studied the impact of   
   Operation National Sword on US recycling.   
      
   Most of the world’s largest shipping lines—Maersk, MSC, and Hapag-   
   Lloyd—stopped taking plastic shipments to China in 2020. CMA CGM, a French   
   shipping line, is going a step further by rejecting plastic shipments   
   anywhere on earth. That leaves few companies willing to ship plastic   
   waste, and even fewer countries that accept it in bulk. Turkey, Canada,   
   Vietnam, and Thailand are now among the biggest waste importers but impose   
   their own restrictions.   
      
   The US needs to scale up domestic recycling   
   Now that recycling hubs and shipping lines have started banning plastic   
   imports, countries like the US will have to figure out how to take care of   
   their own plastic waste.   
      
   The EU has embraced “extended producer responsibility” regulations, which   
   force companies that produce plastic products and packaging to pay for   
   their recycling or disposal. The EU has also created regulations to limit   
   how much plastic packaging companies can use and require companies to use   
   recycled plastics.   
      
   But the US lags behind on regulating plastic and building the facilities   
   needed to recycle it. The country began dumping 23% more plastic into   
   landfills after Operation National Sword went into effect in 2017. State   
   and local governments are just starting to pass laws emulating EU   
   regulations, but only in a few jurisdictions. Yet the recent ban may   
   create a robust domestic industry for the waste.   
      
   “Because we’ve taken advantage historically of this ability to export our   
   scrap overseas, we haven’t invested in domestic source reduction or   
   increased recycling infrastructure,” said Anja Brandon, a plastics policy   
   analyst at the Ocean Conservancy. “As hard as this is, all these efforts   
   by other countries and by the shipping industry [to block plastic exports]   
   are really helping create incentives for us to make a waste management   
   system that works.”   
      
      
      
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   No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.   
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   Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden   
   fiasco, President Trump.   
      
   Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the   
   The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood   
   queer liberal democrat donors.   
      
   President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed   
   dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)