By 2030: The world will be flooded with plastic waste because China prohibits the import of garbage

The global amount of plastic waste is likely to "turn into a mountain" in 2030 after China issued a ban on the import of garbage from other countries.

It is estimated that by 2030, the world will produce about 111 million tons of plastic bottles, food containers and other plastic waste. The huge amount of plastic waste is a big concern as China's new import ban on garbage has begun to take effect. According to the Ecowatch, the above estimate is the result of recent research by scientists at the University of Georgia, USA.

It is estimated that by 2030, the world will produce about 111 million tons of plastic bottles.

Before the ban came into effect, China used to be the largest plastic importer in the world. According to an article published in the recent Science Advances magazine, China has imported 106 million tons of plastic waste since 1992, accounting for 45.1% of the total plastic volume worldwide. This is equivalent to more than 300 Empire State buildings in the US.

During the past 30 years, China has become a processing and recycling country for more than 43 countries, mainly high-income countries in the EU, North America and Japan. High-income countries account for 90% of the total amount of plastic waste exported in the world.

Even so in an unexpected move, China has announced it will not import plastic waste from other countries. Instead, the country will devote all resources to solving the problem of domestic pollution.

China's unexpected policy change has staggered plastic waste exporters such as the US, Canada, Ireland, Germany and other European countries when the planet's biggest "waste tank" declined. receive garbage. Particularly, the US has transferred about 13.2 million tons of waste paper and 1.41 million tons of plastic waste to recycling centers in China each year.

China's policy makes other plastic waste exporters wobble.(Illustration)

Western countries, which rely heavily on recycling plants in China, have become quite passive. Even plastic and paper waste has been piled up in many places and there has been an overload of waste treatment plants.

Southeast Asia in general and Vietnam in particular become the new "trash catcher" of the world

CNBC News reported that some waste is gradually being diverted to Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. However, this figure does not seem to penetrate the gap that has just been lost from the Chinese market.

However, in the situation of developed countries strengthening export of garbage to Southeast Asian countries, many countries here are expected to soon issue a ban on Chinese varieties to protect the health of the people. In addition, part of the reason is that these countries are not able to handle such huge amounts of waste from the world.

Amy Brooks, the lead author of the study and now an engineering student at the University of Georgia, said that countries need to learn how to better manage and recycle waste.

Countries need to learn how to manage and recycle waste better.

Brooks told the Associated Press news agency: "This is really a wake-up call. Historically, we have relied too much on China for recycling waste and now they say no. That waste needs managed and managed properly ".

Since the 1950s, when people discovered the "magic" of plastic, the world produced about 8.3 billion tons, and most of the waste was pushed out of the ocean. According to preliminary calculations, people are discharging into the sea about 8 million tons of plastic annually. Following this momentum, the risk of plastic waste more than fish in the ocean is entirely possible.

Ending the study, scientists expect, countries and governments need to have more powerful ideas and actions soon to reduce the amount of non-recyclable materials. In addition, manufacturers also need to make efforts to redesign the product packaging and it is necessary to have a tougher plastic waste management mechanism.