01.02.2019
#plastic #waste trade #Basel Convention
"Monbiot had a mini-exclusive yesterday I didn't get time for - so here it is today. Every month, thousands of tonnes of used tyres leave our ports on a passage to India. There they are baked in pyrolysis plants, to make a dirty industrial fuel. While some of these plants meet Indian regulations, hundreds - perhaps thousands - are pouring toxins into the air. Unlike plastic waste, there is a ready market for used tyres within the UK. They are - or were - compressed into tight blocks to make road foundations, embankments and drainage beds - however, those firms are going bust in the face of Indian competition. All of this is a breach of UK and EU rules which state exporters must be able to demonstrate that the final destination of the waste they send to other countries "operates to human health and environmental protection standards that are broadly equivalent to the standards within the EU". Whether those rules will still apply on April 1, or whether they will be enforced is a big question."