Mighty Intellect
Posts: 1,782 
Location: in town
Location: in town
May 11th, 2008, 09:20 AM
Those plastics you dutifully recycle? They're shipped to China
My neighbours came home the other day to discover six large new recycling bins sitting on - I should say covering - their front yard. The house is a semi, divided into three apartments. Together, the bins constitute a virtual fourth - 480 litres of prime space in the Annex! Are we all mad? The new blue-bin roll-out raises the question - and, in that much alone, confirms the suspicion. Our good intentions have run amok.
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Too bad I'm not a subscriber. Does anyone of you have the full story? It would be of interest to know what happens to our recycled stuff.
I am a very conscientious recycler!
Those plastics you dutifully recycle? They're shipped to China
My neighbours came home the other day to discover six large new recycling bins sitting on - I should say covering - their front yard. The house is a semi, divided into three apartments. Together, the bins constitute a virtual fourth - 480 litres of prime space in the Annex! Are we all mad? The new blue-bin roll-out raises the question - and, in that much alone, confirms the suspicion. Our good intentions have run amok.
To continue reading this article, you must be a Globe Insider subscriber.
Or, you can purchase just this article.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...rce_login=true
------------------------------------------------------------------
Too bad I'm not a subscriber. Does anyone of you have the full story? It would be of interest to know what happens to our recycled stuff.
I am a very conscientious recycler!
Mighty Intellect
Posts: 1,782
Location: in town
Location: in town
May 11th, 2008, 09:41 AM
I found an old article from GREENPEACE about how, for instance, US plastic wastes are shipped to Indonesia.
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Plastic is so handy and useful, but what a curse at the same time!
That was in 1992! I wonder if changes have been made since.
I found an old article from GREENPEACE about how, for instance, US plastic wastes are shipped to Indonesia.
Quote:
Read on: http://www.things.org/~jym/greenpeac...astics-go.html
In a vast slum just outside Jakarta, for instance, women work in a crowded, unventilated room, separating the waste newspapers, pieces of clothing, metal scraps, poor quality and highly contaminated plastic from the reusable plastics. It's 90 degrees and too hot to wear protective smocks or gloves, not that they are available anyway. With their bare hands the Indonesian women wipe the sweat from their brows. The huge piles of plastic bags, liquid soap bottles, food wrappers, jugs, and disposable diapers have familiar logos Dow, DuPont, Monsanto, Solvay, Mobil.
A white powder blows out of some of these bags as women pull them from the pile. The Indonesian women can't read the English labels so they don't know that the powder is titanium dioxide, which causes respiratory damage. They do know, however, that when these Indonesian recycling companies began importing plastic waste from the U.S., workers developed breathing problems and skin rashes.
Once separated, the piles of discard are sent to a local dump. One Indonesian recycling company owner estimated that up to 40 per cent of the imported waste is landfilled.
Workers shovel the "good" plastic into large grinding machines which turn out plastic pellets or flakes. The women next wash the surface residues and contaminants off these bits. The waste water is then poured onto the dirt floor or out the back door of the recycling plant.
The plastic pellets, sometimes mixed with new plastic or other additives, are melted and formed into long plastic cords. Once cooled, the cords are again chipped and sent to manufacturing plants in Asia to be made into shoe soles, containers, or toys.
A white powder blows out of some of these bags as women pull them from the pile. The Indonesian women can't read the English labels so they don't know that the powder is titanium dioxide, which causes respiratory damage. They do know, however, that when these Indonesian recycling companies began importing plastic waste from the U.S., workers developed breathing problems and skin rashes.
Once separated, the piles of discard are sent to a local dump. One Indonesian recycling company owner estimated that up to 40 per cent of the imported waste is landfilled.
Workers shovel the "good" plastic into large grinding machines which turn out plastic pellets or flakes. The women next wash the surface residues and contaminants off these bits. The waste water is then poured onto the dirt floor or out the back door of the recycling plant.
The plastic pellets, sometimes mixed with new plastic or other additives, are melted and formed into long plastic cords. Once cooled, the cords are again chipped and sent to manufacturing plants in Asia to be made into shoe soles, containers, or toys.
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Plastic is so handy and useful, but what a curse at the same time!
That was in 1992! I wonder if changes have been made since.
