Thus the world developed the pollutant processes developed

Es lógico pensar que, cuando uno desecha un aparato electrónico en un punto designado para tal efecto o tira basura reciclable en el contenedor del color apropiado, los materiales serán procesados cerca para su aprovechamiento, con la consiguiente reducción del impacto medioambiental que tendrían de otra forma. Pero no siempre sucede así. Para confirmarlo basta darse una vuelta por el distrito de Guiyu, en la ciudad china sureña de Shantou.

Here, the mountains of electronic and plastic garbage reach epic proportions.And give work to thousands of people who dedicate themselves to their recycling.Some specialize in recovering mobile phone components, in which labels in numerous languages certify that they are imported;Others prefer plastic because it is easier to manipulate;and those who have more advanced resources extract copper and gold from all kinds of electronic devices.

Until 2013, the work was done precariously in workshops located in the bass of the buildings.Most of the companies that were dedicated to recycling were familiar and governed by a single standard: that of the maximum benefit.Although the authorities ordered that the 1,200 workshops registered in the place join 29 larger companies and move to a new industrial park dedicated to recycling, Guiyu continues to smell of burned plastic and illegal activity resists here and there.

But everything can change now, because on January 1 the new Chinese regulations that prohibit the importation of 24 types of waste, among which are different plastics, paper and textiles.It is not a trivial issue, because since the eighties the Asian giant is the main buyer of this type of garbage that generally comes from developed countries.In total, in 2015 China imported 46 million tons of waste that, after being recycled, serve to partly meet the huge domestic demand of raw materials.In 2016, 56% of all the garbage that moved around the world ended in the country of Mao.

But as was the case - and it continues to happen on a smaller scale - in Guiyu, the lack of adequate facilities and the processing of such large amounts of waste causes serious environmental damage - in this town the rivers are black - and worrying health problems in thePopulation - Guiyu has one of the highest cancer indices."The ban will help reduce the environmental risks caused by this garbage and will also serve to increase the capacity of the recycling sector in China to address the rapid increase in waste produced by the 1.3 billion Chinese," explained last day 15An article from the Chinese Daily Official Gazette.

Not surprisingly, although it still does not reach the almost 300 million tons of garbage produced annually in the United States, China approaches these figures: last year it produced 190 million.The growth of consumption, added to factors such as the rise of electronic commerce, which is linked to a greater use of materials necessary for packaging, has made China be almost at the same time in the world developed in waste production.

It is a complicated situation for the Beijing Government, which is implementing all kinds of measures to increase industrial efficiency, reduce its chronic dependence on fossil fuels and also pollution levels - this year has managed to reduce atmospheric pollution inBeijing, one of the most affected cities.The veto to the importation of garbage is part of the ambitious overturning that the most populous country in the world wants to give, and will be noticed strongly in the rest of the planet.

In fact, he is already doing it.On the same day 1, when the new regulations entered into force, the PRI radio reported the huge amount of garbage that are unable to process the recycling plants of the United States, a country that last year exported 37 million tons of waste -4,000 daily containers - for a value of 16,500 million dollars (about 13.7 billion euros).A third had Chinese destination.

The next day, The Guardian newspaper echoed a similar situation in the United Kingdom."For 20 years we have exported our plastic to China, and now people do not know what will happen," the director of the country's recycling association, Simon Ellin, acknowledged to the British newspaper.According to Greenpeace, Great Britain has exported 2.7 million tons of plastic waste to China since 2012. An amount that is two thirds of the total.And, in the first decade of this century, 87% of the plastic collected in the European Union for recycling ended up in the Asian giant.

They Didnt Knew How To Stop The Bleeding Been Up 4-2 https://t.co/ic0xtbzuxk

— Kendreth Roude 😷 Mon Jul 26 01:27:39 +0000 2021

Undoubtedly, the prohibition issued by Beijing has exposed a lucrative business of which few are aware.But is nothing new.“To a large extent, if developed countries have managed to create a clean environment, it has not been due to the adoption of strict environmental regulations, but thanks to two relocation processes propitiated by globalization: they have transferred the recycling of the recycling of developing the recycling of developing countriesIts waste and the manufacture of products that require very polluting processes, ”explains Xu Bin, professor at China-Europe International Business School (CEIBS).

In short, the first world has relocated its pollution by moving polluting production to poor countries.From the heavy industry and the processing of raw materials, to textiles.In the Indian subcontinent, for example, the production of clothing not only has a high human cost.The inadequate - and sometimes non -existent - treatment of wastewater in the factories has become one of the main sources of contamination of their river paths and, therefore, also of the surrounding lands.

Industry sources recognize that about 5,000 liters of water are needed to produce a single cowboy pants with worn appearance."It would be difficult to comply with European regulations, so we do it in Bangladés," acknowledges a head of production of a western brand who asks to stay anonymity."To do things well is expensive and difficult, because, although sometimes they take their hands to their heads with some report on working conditions, consumers what worries them most is the price," he says.

No one doubts that this relocation of pollution and semi -class work will continue immutable, although China's boom - and the consequent increase in its costs - will make it focus on other countries.Especially in Southeast Asia and in the Indian subcontinent, where income levels are still minor, the Government encourages the manufacture of products with little added value as a source of employment and wealth, and environmental and labor regulations are more lax.

The Europe's Recycling Plant

Good example of this is the scrapping of gigantic ships of all kinds of flags on the coast of Chittagong, in Bangladés.Although the situation has significantly improved in recent years, the process continues to be carried out at the old way: by hand, with very rudimentary tools and without any safety equipment.The gas bags that are formed in the fuel tanks are a danger that causes numerous deaths every year between the scrapping, and the cleaning of the same converts the beaches into strips of black sands.

Not far from there, in the capital, Dacca, the recycling of garbage from the five continents is carried out in a similar way.Small facilities convert plastic into Lácas, and an army of workers - among those who do not lack children - complete the process so that different companies can reuse the material.“Here most of the plastic comes from Europe.Other factories receive that of the United States, ”says one of those responsible.Around it, next to a dirty river, barefoot women and adolescents and devoid of any protection classify plastics according to their color and consistency.None think about the consequences that work can have for your health and that of the country itself.They have enough to work to take something in the mouth.

“The governments of developed countries should avoid hypocrisy.They have the moral obligation to promote outside their borders the same as they demand in their territory.The population of those countries, in addition, should be informed of what is done with their garbage, ”says Bangladesi social activist Shirin Akter."Citizens cannot choose what is done with their waste, but they can demand from their rulers to be consistent," she adds.

In Guiyu, however, they are convinced that Western garbage will continue to arrive despite the ban, because an important part enters illegally."Some private companies involved in this smuggling separate the usable and do not properly process the rest, which can continue to contaminate the environment," said Jiang Jianguo, professor at the Faculty of Environment at the University of Tsinghua, to the South China Morning Post.

In July last year, the Chinese authorities admonished 800 companies that did not comply with recycling standards.And in November they reported the arrest of 259 involved in the illegal import of 303,000 tons of garbage."If all countries acted as China, pollution in the world would be reduced considerably," says Akter."Unfortunately, that is not interested in those who get rid of the garbage, or those who buy it."

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