The EU has struck a deal to stop ships of waste plastic landing in ports of poor countries.
European lawmakers and member states agreed on Friday to ban exports of plastic rubbish to countries outside the OECD group of mostly rich countries from the middle of 2026. The deal comes as diplomats meet in Nairobi, Kenya, to hammer out a global treaty on plastic pollution.
“The EU will finally assume responsibility for its plastic waste by banning its export to non-OECD countries,” said Pernille Weiss, a Danish member of the European parliament with the centre-right EPP group, who was in charge of the proposal. “Once again, we follow our vision that waste is a resource when it is properly managed, but should not in any case be causing harm to the environment or human health.”
Now do same with textiles and electronics
Heyyy… The people in Africa need something to wear!
/s
I hope that means the waste will be sorted for recycling in the EU, instead of throwing it all away because the sorting labor costs would be too high.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“The EU will finally assume responsibility for its plastic waste by banning its export to non-OECD countries,” said Pernille Weiss, a Danish member of the European parliament with the centre-right EPP group, who was in charge of the proposal.
“Once again, we follow our vision that waste is a resource when it is properly managed, but should not in any case be causing harm to the environment or human health.”
After five years, countries who then wish to import EU plastic waste can request the commission lift the ban for them if they prove they will treat it well.
Lauren Weir, a campaigner from the Environmental Investigation Agency, said: “Whilst this is an improvement to current obligations, the evidence of the harms and necessity for a full plastic waste ban are clear.
Sedat Gündoğdu, a microplastics researcher at Çukurova University in Turkey, said: “The ban of plastic waste exports to non-OECD countries is a significant decision.
He added: “We know from past practices that partial bans and ineffective content controls do not prevent the illegal circulation of plastic waste.”
The original article contains 419 words, the summary contains 179 words. Saved 57%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Why 2026 and not 2024 or even 2025?
They should implement things like this rather sooner than later.
Ideally, I agree with you. But with the scale of waste that we’re talking about here, countries need time to plan and implement alternatives.
They shouldn’t have done this for years so they don’t need time to plan. Saving the planet is expensive and you shouldn’t cheat or you just have to pay.
My own country, Germany, does this and it is really appalling to me that this was legal for so many years.
