The Big Plastic Recyclers Are Actually Big Plastic Dumpers

Countries, like Germany and the UK, receive accolades for being respectively in 1st and 2nd place in the rankings for plastics recycling. Things are not, however, as they seem. For example, more than 140 containers filled with German household plastics waste, are currently rotting and rodent infested in parts of Turkey, Greece and Vietnam. The waste was exported to these countries in what has been termed 'waste colonialism' (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/31/waste-colonialism-countries-grapple-with-wests-unwanted-plastic). Turkey, Greece and Vietnam were chosen, because they have fewer environmental protections than in the 'West'. Germany and the UK are reluctant to burn their own plastics waste, as this would add to their 'carbon footprint'. Dumping it, unwanted, in other countries should not be the answer. If Germany and the UK want to merit their plastics disposal rankings, they need to develop proper mechanisms for effectively dealing with the waste in their own countries.