日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
World
Home / World / Asia-Pacific

SE Asia struggling on imported waste issue

By DAVID HO | China Daily | Updated: 2019-04-15 10:04
Share
Share - WeChat
A picture taken on May 24, 2018 in Sieversdorf, eastern Germany shows plastic cutlery on a table. [Photo/VCG]

Hong Kong observers urge countries to address plastics pollution at the source

Southeast Asian countries are having difficulties dealing with huge quantities of imported waste, and ecological observers are pointing to addressing plastics pollution at the source.

As China restricts and stops importing waste and recyclables, "many countries like the United States and Japan ship to other Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand," said June Wong, oceans conservation project officer with WWF-Hong Kong.

China introduced a "foreign waste ban" in 2017 and in June 2018, it decided to stop all imports of solid waste by the end of 2020. Last year, the country restricted imports of 24 types of mining slag, household plastics, unsorted paper and textile waste.

The move after decades of being the receptacle for much of the world's waste will help China improve domestic environmental conditions. It will also push developed economies to confront waste and recycling-an issue that many countries have long ignored by simply exporting the problem overseas.

Since China's restrictions started taking effect, multiple countries such as the United States are looking for new places to send trash. This has led to a spike in waste imports in Southeast Asia.

In Thailand, shipments of plastics from the US multiplied 20 times in the first half of 2018 from a year earlier, according to Green-peace Unearthed, an investigative journalism project.

These countries are finding it hard to cope with imported wastes as well. "Malaysia doesn't have the systems in place to deal with this volume of waste, and our Greenpeace research shows that much of it, rather than being recycled, is just being left out in the open to rot, landfilled or possibly incinerated," Wong said.

Local communities have seen more illegal burning as well as increased air and water pollution as a result.

Mei Ng, chairman of Friends of the Earth (Hong Kong), said China is taking appropriate measures.

"Every country should uphold the 'polluter pays principle' (also known as PPP) and producer responsibility. China is upholding the PPP principle when it stops accepting other countries' waste," she said.

"The true cost (of importing waste) should factor in the hidden environment, social and health damages," said Ng. These damages include contamination and health risks.

Chang Yuan, a plastics campaigner for environmental group Greenpeace East Asia, said that addressing the waste crisis is of critical importance, "not just for China but worldwide", citing contributions by continuous public scrutiny, media attention and input from civil society.

Shirley Lui, manager for the environmental, social and governance (or ESG) reporting service at advisory firm Ascent Partners, said "countries should always take care of their own trash".

"It's unsettling to see how well-known cities like Hong Kong or countries like the Maldives just relegate a lot of it to landfill, without many policies in place for reducing, recycling or reusing," Lui said.

That gap extends to the ESG front. To date, there is limited information on the complete cycle of waste management.

"For ESG, a lot of small-to-medium companies only mention that they give their trash to building management or municipal services to handle. I would like to see more client awareness on trash handling after collection for recycling or disposal," said Lui.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange released two reports last year calling on companies to shore up ESG reporting. Hong Kong authorities are pushing to change people's behavior through policies and plans, such as charges for municipal solid waste disposal and plastic bag fees.

Carmen Cano, head of the EU office to Hong Kong and Macao, said a European Union Plastic Waste Reduction Workshop held in Hong Kong recently highlighted recycling solutions that businesses have successfully implemented.

Chang urged industries and corporations that manufacture and market waste to step up responsibility.

"It is critical that plastics pollution is addressed at the source, by eliminating plastics in the design phase and leaving our reliance on throwaway plastics behind," he said.

The author is a freelance journalist for China Daily.

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 无码日本精品久久久久久 | 欧美天天在线 | 亚洲高清视频一区 | 久久亚洲欧美日韩精品专区 | www.人人干 | 91高清在线观看 | 欧美一区二区三区精品 | 成人免费午夜性视频 | 日本视频在线免费观看 | 国产精品成人不卡在线观看 | 成人免费毛片高清视频 | 日本在线观看 | 国产青青视频 | 男女一起www免费高清视频 | 国产不卡a | 日韩精品中文乱码在线观看 | 亚洲精品久久久久久无码AV | 五月天小说网 | 久碰人澡人澡人澡人澡91 | 一区二区成人国产精品 | 免费在线观看成人 | 日韩精品一区在线观看 | 欧美日韩在线免费 | 色呦呦在线 | 黑人巨大videosjapan高清 婷婷在线免费观看 | 色中色综合网 | 免费的黄色网 | 巨大乳女人做爰视频在线 | 一区二区三区四区不卡视频 | 草草影院永久地址 | 亚洲国产精品一区二区久久 | 国产视频网 | 99久久九九爱看免费直播 | 精品一区二区三区久久 | 精品一区二区三区四区五区 | 91专区在线观看 | 一区二区三区福利视频 | 国产野花视频天堂视频免费 | 久久综合九色综合网站 | 久在线观看视频 | 欧美精品一区二区三区免费播放 |