> If rich countries banned the export of plastic waste to these countries, we might reduce plastic pollution a bit: perhaps up to 5%.
> But, an end to trade won’t stop plastic pollution. Only a small fraction of the world’s plastic waste is traded – under 2%. And most – two-thirds of it – ends up in richer countries, where it’s very unlikely to end up in the ocean.
Heck, if you want poor countries to be accountable for their own pollution then they shouldn’t be forced to trade with developed countries who don’t want to make any concessions about the use of plastics, but I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t be a popular stance with HN either.
I read this as "let's make this transparent".
From my perspective, who to blame and what to do is a second order question.
So you make it transparent, and then you can look and determine what is or isn’t worth doing.
Someone living comfortably in Western Europe can afford to stick to his principles. He has the extra money and energy to give a damn. He can cut meat, drive less, fly less, consume less.
It's silly for someone who enjoys air conditioning and two international trips a year, to tell people in developing countries to do their bit. It costs far less to do ours.
This is not a paternalistic view of people in developing countries, it's a critical look at our own inaction.
I do see a correlation between amount of litter on the ground and country economical/political development but cannot think of a convincing casual link here.
Fool me for 6 decades, I dunno, maybe I could have made an assumption about what you were going to do the next time.
What would you do?
"That means that around 2% of waste is traded"
"Most of the plastic that enters the oceans from land comes from rivers in Asia.1 More than 80% of it."