Perhaps it needs more pressure10 Oct 2020 17:55
According to an recent investigation by Greenpeace, the UK increased its plastic waste exports to South East Asia.
Vietnam received 1,000 tons, in the first 7 months of 2020, and Malaysia saw an increase of 81% from the UK, with 38,098 tons in the same period.
Both of these countries are battling with increased plastic waste, since China banned such waste from outside the country.
Last January, Malaysia announced that it would return 42 containers of illegal waste to the UK.
it appears that the Malaysian government allows the import of such waste, by its own licenced companies, so as the Telegraph said after studying the Green Peace report, the UK is playing 'pass the parcel'.
The excuse given was that Malaysia has a significant demand for plastic raw materials, but it is being exploited by rogue operators who just dump it.
We all know how expensive it is to dispose of waste plastic, but equally we investors in PHE know a solution, although very few in government appear to be aware of that solution.
I always take any figures from Green Peace and every other similar groups with a large pinch of salt, but there are so many reports of plastic waste being shunted from country to country, I am sure the problem is massive, and far bigger than most of the general public realise.
The plastic waste problem will be with us for many years, but as soon as solutions such as the DMG's of PHE come on stream, awareness will become far more common and people will start asking, why are we trying to throw such plastics away (or dumping them in the environment) when they can be put to a productive use.
The future is not to dump waste plastics, a large part of it has to be PHE.