A Paris climate treaty for plastics, but what should it say?

As countries prepare to launch talks for a global plastics treaty in early 2022, a coalition of environmental groups, the European Union and developing nations kicked off a campaign Dec. 14 to build support for what they see as a more ambitious approach.

Advocates for a treaty, which has been likened to a Paris climate accord for plastics, say there’s broad agreement among many nations on the need for some sort of agreement.

But what’s still up for debate, they say, is how ambitious it should be.

Two competing proposals have emerged ahead of talks at the upcoming United Nations Environment Assembly in late February.

A proposal from Rwanda and Peru, and backed by the EU, calls for a broader pact that its supporters say would look at all phases of plastics design and production.

An alternate plan from Japan, however, more narrowly sees the treaty’s focus on ocean plastics and waste management.

A European Commission representative who spoke to the kickoff of the NGO campaign said the EC likes the Rwanda-Peru approach.

“We have been working very close with our like-minded countries to make sure that we mobilize as much support as possible for the Peru and Rwanda initiatives,” said Christoffer Back Vestli, international relations officer in the European Commission’s directorate general for the environment, speaking on a Dec. 14 webinar organized by the Center for International Environmental Law.

Luis Chuquihuara Chil, a senior Peruvian diplomat at the United Nations, said 45 countries are co-sponsoring his country’s resolution, including the 27 European Union member countries, the United Kingdom, India, Kenya, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia.

“We are expecting more countries to support this resolution in the coming days,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month formally put the U.S. government behind a treaty, in an address to diplomats at the headquarters of the U.N. Environment Program in Kenya.

He said he favored strong national action plans around plastic pollution and discussed concerns about microplastics in the food chain. But Blinken did not go into much detail on how a treaty would be structured.

Vestli, from the EC, agreed that countries should have flexibility with national action plans but said the treaty should set global targets.

One environmental group supporting the Rwanda-Peru plan, the International Pollutants Elimination Network, said on the CIEL webinar that more than 150 governments have voiced some level of support for a plastics treaty.

“We know there’s already an overwhelming support for the treaty on plastics,” said Vito Buonsante, IPEN’s policy and technical adviser. “The question is not to convince governments that a treaty is needed, but… what kind of treaty do we need.”

“If we look at a treaty that is only looking at plastic litter, that will almost certainly serve the status quo and continue to produce as much plastic,” he said. “IPEN’s view is that the overarching goal of the treaty should really be to eliminate the toxic impacts of plastics throughout their life cycle.”

The American Chemistry Council, which in September formally endorsed a treaty, said it is monitoring the discussions closely.

In a Dec. 16 statement, ACC’s plastics division suggested the Japanese proposal is better, and said it hopes any formal resolution the U.N. meeting adopts will consider a five-point plan ACC released earlier this year.

“Such a resolution should not pre-judge the outcome of an intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC), and there are concerns the proposal from Rwanda and Peru does just that,” said ACC spokesman Matthew Kastner. “Japan’s proposal leaves most of the decisions to the INC to encourage participation by a wide range of governments — which is important to negotiating a successful agreement.”

ACC’s plan calls for governments to agree to eliminate plastics waste leaking into the environment by a set date, increase waste collection, support chemical recycling and recognize the role of plastics in moving to a low carbon economy, including comparing the impact of plastics to other materials.

It also calls for innovation in packaging design and globally standardized ways to measure plastic waste.

“ACC believes there is significant opportunity for a U.N. treaty to foster and scale progress by the private sector to accelerate a circular economy and end plastic waste in the environment,” Kastner said.

A summary of the two resolutions distributed by CIEL, which supports the Peru and Rwanda plan, said both it and the Japanese proposal call for quick negotiations and a legally binding treaty.

But the Rwanda-Peru proposal gives negotiators more flexibility, a so-called “open mandate,” in what the final treaty can include, while the Japanese proposal is a “closed mandate” with more limits on what the INC diplomats can consider, CIEL said.

Jane Patton, the CIEL’s campaigns manager for plastics and petrochemicals, said negotiators need to consider impacts of rising plastics production and emissions, as well as health and climate impacts.

“If the resolution that comes out of UNEA stays focused on plastics in the marine environment, we are not going to solve this problem,” she said. “It’s not a good use of anybody’s time to spend two or three years negotiating a treaty that’s only going to address a tiny portion of the problem.”

Vestli, from the European Commission, said the EC wants the treaty to mirror the European Green Deal and EU plastics legislation and look upstream at impacts.

“We have taken measures to address plastics by its source,” he said. “We see that design and measures in the upstream part of the life cycle of plastics are particularly important because 80 percent of the environmental footprint is determined in that phase of the life cycle.”

Sperm counts on the decline due to plastics

Recent studies show that fertility in both male and female has decreased over the past few decades. According to research, this is linked to the effects of toxic chemicals in plastics that have gone unregulated. Plastics contain hazardous chemicals, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that threaten human health.

In most African countries, a majority of the people use plastic products daily. Most used plastic items include plates, cups, toys, shampoo bottles, food packaging tins, and office equipment.

Unbeknownst to many, some of the products contain harmful chemicals and additives that negatively impact their health and the environment. It’s hard to control the exposure of some of the additives in plastic for they occur during the entire life span of the products, from the manufacturing process to the consumer contact, recycling, to waste management and disposal. This makes it even harder for circular economy to thrive for it turns toxic if the plastics recycled contain toxic chemicals.

Waste recycling

Many of these additives are known to interfere with hormone functioning thus are commonly referred to as endocrine disrupting chemicals. These chemicals are deadly and life threatening. The can cause cancer, diabetes, liver, metabolic disorders, alterations to both male and female reproductive development, infertility and neurological impacts.

According to research, young women today at 25 are less fertile than their grandmothers were when they were 45. The number of sperms per milliliter of semen has dropped more than 50 per cent among men in western countries in just under 40 years. Some of the known chemicals that leach from plastic and threaten general health include the phthalates, PFAS, flame retardants, dioxins and UV-stabilisers.

Children spend a significant amount of time on the ground in indoor areas having hand-to-mouth contact and playing with contaminated toys. Regulations are needed in ensuring some of the additives are not used for they are costing the lives of many children.

Although waste recycling is a good practice, it should not apply to waste containing toxic chemicals and additives. The burden of plastics needs to be addressed from the source as many African countries have turned into dumping sites. 

Pitt study: World plastics trade accounts for 350M metric tons of CO2

The amount of plastic traded between countries has the carbon footprint of a mid-sized European country, according to a new study from the University of Pittsburgh.

Almost half of all plastics are traded across international borders – usually from oil- and gas-producing countries to those with big manufacturing sectors, like China.

Oil and gas are harvested and refined to make that plastic. The study found that internationally-traded plastics created 350 million metric tons of carbon dioxide – about the same footprint as France or Italy.

“This is a huge problem,” said Vikas Khanna, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, and the study’s lead author.  “But at the same time, it’s a huge opportunity.”

Better recycling could lower that footprint, to promote a “circular” economy, Khanna said. Only around 9 percent of all plastics are recycled.

Opportunities to reduce plastic

By 2050, plastics are on track to account for 15 percent of all global greenhouse gases. Scientists say lowering our greenhouse gas emissions is imperative to limiting the worst effects of climate change.

Khanna said most recycling now is a form of  “downcycling,” where materials like plastic bottles are repurposed as lower-grade materials.

“Maybe you shred it into smaller particles and it may become fillers for something else,” Khanna said.

He said chemical recycling, where plastics are broken down into their building blocks, is one way to keep more virgin plastics out of landfills and the environment. A plastic bottle can then become…another plastic bottle.

“That way, we’re not losing the value, we’re recovering the building blocks” of the material, Khanna said.

Khanna said for that to happen, there will need to be government action to fund research and offer incentives for companies to improve recycling techniques.

“Right now, I think there’s a lack of incentives and there’s no policies, at least in the U.S.,” Khanna said. Those policies are starting to take hold in Europe in other countries, he said.

In addition to greenhouse gases, plastics pose other problems. Scientists estimate around 10 million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and microplastics – tiny particles that escape into the environment as materials degrade–have been found in Arctic ice, the Mariana Trench, and in baby feces.

Video: As the World Grapples with Plastic Pollution, Pa.’s Ethane Cracker Promises More Plastic

The study found that since a handful of countries, like the U.S., China, Saudi Arabia and Germany are responsible for the majority of plastics trade, policies in just a few countries could have a big impact on reducing plastic waste. Improving worldwide recycling practices “may only require interventions in a few key countries,” the authors state.

Make producers responsible for plastic waste

Daniel Posen, assistant professor in civil and mineral engineering at the University of Toronto, who was not involved in the study, said there’s no silver bullet to solving the world’s plastics problem.

He said one potential part of the solution is to cut down on the circulation of plastics by banning some single-use plastics – like shopping bags and utensils – as many countries around the world have begun doing.

Another possible solution is a regulatory concept, also gaining popularity in Europe, of “extended producer responsibility,” which places the onus on companies – rather than local governments and consumers – on ensuring plastics are properly disposed of.

“As soon as you flip the responsibility, it’s no longer on the consumer or on governments to deal with it but on you as a company,” Posen said. “If you are responsible as a company for proper disposal, you are going to design a product that is much easier to be disposed of.”

Following Pennsylvania Gas to Scotland

This story is produced in partnership with StateImpact Pennsylvania, a collaboration among The Allegheny Front, WPSU, WITF and WHYY to cover the commonwealth’s energy economy.



Microplastics may be linked to inflammatory bowel disease, study finds

Microplastics may be linked to inflammatory bowel disease, study finds

People with IBD have 50% more microplastics in their faeces but more research needed to confirm connection

woman sitting in bed feeling stomach ache

People with inflammatory bowel disease have 50% more microplastics in their faeces, a study has revealed.

Previous research has shown that microplastics can cause intestinal inflammation and other gut problems in laboratory animals, but the research is the first to investigate potential effects on humans. The scientists found 42 microplastic pieces per gram in dried samples from people with IBD and 28 pieces in those from healthy people.

The concentration of microplastics was also higher for those with more severe IBD, suggesting a connection between the two. However, the study does not prove a causal link, and the scientists said further research must be done. It may be that IBD causes people to retain more microplastics in their guts, for example.

Microplastic pollution has contaminated the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans. People were already known to consume the tiny particles via food and water as well as breathing them in. Microplastics are known to harm wildlife but very little is known about their impact on people’s health, although a study published earlier in December found they damaged human cells in the laboratory.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, analysed samples from 50 healthy people and 52 people with IBD, but otherwise healthy. The participants were from across China and also completed a questionnaire including information on their dietary and drinking habits in the previous year.

As well as the link to IBD, the scientists found that people who tended to drink bottled water or eat takeaway food had about double the concentration of microplastics in their stools. In total, 15 different types of plastic were found among the microplastics. The most common were PET, used on water bottles and food containers and polyamide, which is also found in food packaging.

The level of microplastics in the faeces was similar to those in the few previous studies conducted, once differences in methodology are taken into account. One study found infants had more microplastics than adults in their faeces. This may be due to infants chewing plastic items or use of milk bottles which are known to shed millions of microplastics.

Microplastics revealed in the placentas of unborn babies
Read more

Diet and environmental factors can trigger or exacerbate IBD, which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. “In recent years, the prevalence of IBD has sharply increased in developing countries in Asia,” said the researchers from Nanjing University in China. “It is estimated that there will be 1.5 million IBD patients in China by 2025 which will cause a serious disease burden.”

“This study provides evidence that we are indeed ingesting microplastics,” said Evangelos Danopoulos at Hull York Medical school in the UK, who was not part of the study team. “It is an important study, as it widens the evidence base for human exposures. More data about possible confounding factors is needed to build a causal association to specific human health conditions.”

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No mountain high enough: study finds plastic in ‘clean’ air

No mountain high enough: study finds plastic in ‘clean’ air

Microplastics from Africa and North America found airborne in French Pyrenees, 2,877 metres above sea level

The Pic du Midi Observatory overlooking mountains and sky in the French Pyrenees

From Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, microplastics are everywhere – even high in the Earth’s troposphere where wind speeds allow them to travel vast distances, a new study has found.

Microplastics are tiny fragments – measuring less than 5mm – that come from packaging, clothing, vehicles and other sources and have been detected on land, in water and in the air.

Scientists from the French national research institute CNRS sampled air 2,877 metres above sea level at the Pic du Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees, a so-called “clean station” because of the limited influence exerted on it by the local climate and environment.

There they tested 10,000 cubic metres of air a week between June and October of 2017 and found all samples contained microplastics.

Using weather data, they calculated the trajectories of different air masses preceding each sample and discovered sources as far away as north Africa and North America.

The study’s main author, Steve Allen of Dalhousie University in Canada, told AFP that the particles were able to travel such distances because they were able to reach great altitudes.

“Once it hits the troposphere, it’s like a superfast highway,” he said.

The research also points to microplastic sources in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

“The marine source is the most interesting,” Allen said.

“Plastic leaving the ocean into the air that high – it shows there is no eventual sink for this plastic. It’s just moving around and around in an indefinite cycle.”

Microplastics cause damage to human cells, study shows
Read more

While the amounts of microplastics in the samples at the Pic du Midi do not pose a health risk, the study’s co-author Deonie Allen notes that the particles are small enough for humans to breathe in.

And she says their presence in a zone thought to be protected and far from pollution sources should give pause.

“It questions the relationship we have with plastic,” she said, adding that the problem was global.

Allen said that it also showed that disposing of plastic by shipping it abroad was a flawed strategy.

“It’s going to come back to you,” she said.

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Microplastics: Pollution in French mountain air may have crossed Atlantic Ocean

Microplastics travelled thousands of kilometres across oceans and continents in a fast-moving layer of the atmosphere before being captured on a mountain in the French Pyrenees



Environment



21 December 2021

By Carissa Wong

Intake for fine particle pump at Pic du Midi Observatory (French Pyrenees).

Capturing microplastics at the Pic du Midi Observatory

Jeroen Sonke

Microplastics found at a mountain top in the French Pyrenees may have crossed continents and oceans, travelling around 4500 kilometres in a fast-moving region of the troposphere, which is the lowest layer of the atmosphere. The finding suggests the particles can circulate the world and reach even the most remote regions.

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic, each less than 5 millimetres in diameter. They have been previously discovered in a lower region of the troposphere called the boundary layer, where friction between the air and Earth’s surface occurs and wind speeds are relatively low.

Now, for the first time, we have evidence that microplastics can travel at a higher altitude in the troposphere in a layer that doesn’t feel the effects of friction with Earth’s surface. In this layer – called the free troposphere – higher wind speeds give microplastics a greater potential for long-distance travel than was previously known.

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“Once microplastics hit the free troposphere it’s the super highway for pollution movement. There’s high wind speed and very little rain up there, so the pollution doesn’t get rained out and it just travels much faster [than in the planetary boundary layer below],” says Steve Allen at the University of Strathclyde in the UK, a member of the research team.

“We’re not surprised that it’s up there but we’re sad that it is. These tiny particles are excellent transporters of pollution, they act as little balls of Velcro, collecting viruses and other pollutants on the outside of the particle as it moves,” says team member Deonie Allen, also at the University of Strathclyde.

The researchers captured 15 samples of microplastic particles over several months at the Pic du Midi Observatory in the Pyrenees in south-west France, which sits at nearly 3000 metres above sea level and provides access to the free troposphere.

The team used computational models to map the likely routes taken by the microplastics in the week leading up to their capture. The models were fed with data on the movement of airflow around the globe and took account of the sizes and densities of the microplastics to find that particles travelled around 4500 kilometres on average in the free troposphere. Potential sources included the US, Canada, North Africa, the UK, and the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

“Some of the samples we got showed a marine source, coming out of the ocean and managing to get up into the free troposphere,” says Steve Allen. “That basically completes the cycle of what we think plastics are doing – it doesn’t stop anywhere, there’s never a sink, but a way station on to somewhere else.”

Most of the particles were between 5 and 20 micrometres in diameter. These are particles that can be inhaled and potentially cause breathing problems.

“This is the size of particle you breathe that causes respiratory disease – the stuff that makes you cough and gives you asthma,” says Deonie Allen.

Using a laser, the team determined that the most abundant type of plastic was polyethylene, which is commonly used in plastic packaging.

“Wealthy countries think that they’re getting rid of plastic waste when they ship it off to be burned or landfilled in other parts of the world – they’re not, it’s just coming back in a few weeks’ time. There’s no borders in nature,” says Steve Allen.

Journal reference: Nature Communications, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27454-7

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Beware of false solutions to the crises of climate change and plastic pollution

While climate disasters unfold in Canada and around the planet, the federal government is entertaining false solutions from the fossil-fuel industry that risk making things worse instead of better.

The federal government has committed to ending fossil fuel subsidies. But now they’re rolling out new policies, spending programs and tax breaks to incentivize carbon capture and storage, blue hydrogen and “advanced recycling.” The truth is, these are just new fossil fuel subsidies in disguise that will continue to lock us into dirty fuels.

Take “carbon capture and storage” (CCS), touted by the industry as a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by capturing some of the gases from polluting facilities before they escape into the atmosphere. CCS does nothing to stop the emissions created from burning the fuel — most notably for heating and transportation — and yet the oil and gas lobby wants at least $50 billion from taxpayers to make it happen.

But CCS is not a climate solution. In fact, CCS perversely increases emissions, since most of the captured carbon is actually used to get more oil out of the ground.

And despite decades of research and tens of billions of dollars in subsidies globally, CCS is neither economically sound nor proven at scale. In fact, globally only 0.1 per cent of annual emissions from fossil fuels are being captured. And while the costs of renewables and real climate solutions have plummeted, carbon capture technologies remain very expensive.

And then there’s “blue” hydrogen. Hydrogen, like electricity, can be used to store or transport energy, and when burned, it doesn’t create any greenhouse gas emissions. But the vast majority of hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels — with huge emissions. Industry promises to deal with those through unproven CCS.

A recent study from Cornell and Stanford found that blue fossil hydrogen is even worse for the climate than burning coal or natural gas directly and concludes there is no role for fossil hydrogen in a carbon-free future. If hydrogen is to play a role in a future energy grid, it will be “green” hydrogen from renewable electricity.

Not to be left behind, the petrochemical industry is touting a troubling technology to rid the world of plastic waste. We’re on track to see plastic outweigh fish in the world’s oceans by 2050, but the industry’s proposed strategy will allow them to continue producing more and more plastic.

The industry has long used the promise of recycling to justify plastic, especially single-use products and packaging. But recycling has never worked. Only 9 per cent of all plastic is recycled in Canada. The rest ends up in landfills, incinerators or the natural environment.

Now the industry is selling “advanced recycling,” which isn’t really recycling at all. There has been a flurry of announcements around the world in recent years about pilot projects to make a small amount of plastic waste “disappear” by turning it into fuel and chemicals.

These projects burn a lot of energy to get a small amount of fuel, some of which might be sent back to refineries that make new plastic and untold byproducts, most of which will end up in landfills. Similar to CCS, “advanced recycling” also doesn’t reduce our need to extract and refine fossil fuels. All we get in the end is more and more plastic, more and more waste and more and more pollution.

To stop the damage to our planet, the federal government must refuse false solutions and instead pave the way for a fair transition for workers and communities away from oil and gas. That means no tax breaks, spending or regulations that provide a benefit to CCS, blue hydrogen or advanced recycling.

Julia Levin is senior program manager, climate and energy, at Environmental Defence and Karen Wirsig is plastics program manager at Environmental Defence.

Researchers help Miami fight plastic pollution

Researchers help Miami fight plastic pollution
Plastic and other garbage litters the beach on Pace Picnic Island in Miami. Credit: University of Georgia

A team of University of Georgia (UGA) researchers is hard at work in Miami to help leaders there tackle a problem that affects nearly every city in the world: Plastic pollution.

Jenna Jambeck, an environmental engineering professor in UGA’s College of Engineering, and her students have partnered with Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, and the City of Miami to better understand the life cycle of plastic pollution, and more importantly, what steps must be taken to keep the Magic City and its famous waterways pristine.

To do this, Jambeck and her students, in collaboration with local partners like Florida International University students, conducted a community-level analysis of the origins and fate of plastic waste, particularly single-use plastics like bottles or food packaging, using what is known as the Circularity Assessment Protocol, or CAP.

“The Miami CAP can give us the knowledge we need to help preserve and protect the economic and cultural powerhouse that is our ocean,” said Jon Paul “J.P.” Brooker, director of Florida Conservation at Ocean Conservancy. “With it, we can work with champions on the City Commission to develop landmark regulations that will keep that out of the Magic City’s water. Florida’s marine environment is at a crossroads and we need all hands on deck to save the iconic waters that we as Floridians love.”

The project, which builds upon Ocean Conservancy’s Shores Forward initiative, will culminate in a comprehensive report that will be released in January.

“While it’s important that we accurately record plastic and other litter that we see on the ground or in the water, the CAP involves several other key components,” said Jambeck, who led a landmark study published in Science in 2015 that estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic enters the ocean every year.

“For example, we go to local stores to see what kinds of products are most frequently sold and how they are packaged, we examine waste management practices, and we work closely with members of the community to better understand local attitudes about conservation and pollution,” Jambeck said. “The entire process is in collaboration with local partners and the city or community to highlight strengths and recommend actions to increase circularity and keep plastics out of the environment.”

Since its development in 2019, Jambeck’s group has used the CAP in 10 countries and 27 cities around the world, including in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, the Philippines, Panama and Mexico. But this is the first time the protocol has been fully deployed in a major U.S. city.

As the name implies, the project is designed to increase circularity in the way products are manufactured and used. Unlike a linear model where products are created, used for a very short time and discarded, a circular model emphasizes reuse, remanufactured or recycled materials.

As part of the analysis, researchers use a free app called Debris Tracker, which Jambeck created with fellow UGA engineering professor Kyle Johnsen. Used by both professionals and citizen scientists, the open-data app allows users to track and other pollution using a smartphone. To date, Debris Tracker users have logged more than 5 million items around the world.

Jambeck’s research group and thousands of community members used the app earlier this year to log more than 75,000 pieces of trash throughout the Mississippi River Basin as part of a project to reduce waste along America’s most essential inland waterway.

“The data we gather using the Debris Tracker app helps us understand what type of litter ends up in the environment and how it got there,” said Taylor Maddalene, a doctoral student in UGA’s College of Engineering and the CAP director. “When we analyze litter alongside other elements of the CAP, we’re able to provide science-backed data that can ultimately inform decision making at the city level to improve water quality and reduce .”

The report detailing results from the CAP will be made available in English, Haitian Creole and Spanish. Ocean Conservancy will work closely with community groups and citizens across Miami’s diverse neighborhoods to help develop action plans and to support community engagement.

Explore further

Science report: US should make less plastic to save oceans

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Those living in Miami who would like to assist in the research can find more information online at oceanconservancy.org/wp-conten … CAP_Outreachinfo.pdf

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Romania imposes limits on imported wastes to tackle pollution


Bales of waste illegally imported from Portugal seized in Romania in 2019. Photo: National Environmental Guard of Romania

Romania has limited the number of border crossing points through which recyclable waste can be broughg into the country to 15, and has adopted a decision to combat the illegal import of waste. “Romania cannot be Europe’s landfill,” Environment Minister Tanczos Barna said.

Barna added that as European legislation currently does not allow member states to refuse imported waste, Romania needed to adopt its own normative act to regulate such activities.

“Tracing these transports from the border to the place of recycling will be mandatory. The quantities of waste entering the country will also be correlated with the recycling capacity of the companies,” he added.

An environmental activist, Octavian Berceanu, told BIRN that the new measures were good, but still insufficient, as the 15 designated points are the same points where such waste is usually introduced, so not much would change.

“These checking points must be equipped with scanning devices, and the number of environmental commissioners must be tripled. Otherwise, Romania could be sued by these companies,” Berceanu told BIRN.

Barna said that the transport – often illegal – of waste to Romania and the management of the waste were some of the urgent problems “that we will solve through this normative act”.

According to the act, the 15 authorised crossing points for waste will be established by a joint order of the Environment and Interior Ministers.

An Environmental Fund will be administered by an institution that will monitor the incoming quantities of waste, and ensure that they match the recycling capacity of the companies that the waste should reach, also making available to users a free-of-charge computer system to ensure traceability.

This will help to monitor and verify the correctness of transactions of waste.

“We noticed an increasing trend of illegal waste shipments identified in the Romanian border crossing points and an increased pressure on the borders,” the environmental protection agency, ANPM, said.

In recent years, Romania and Bulgaria have become essential destinations for waste from Western Europe after China closed its doors in 2018 to such imports.

Much of the waste is brought to villages around Bucharest and burned illegally, causing air pollution, as the central and local authorities often look the other way.

The metal extracted from burning plastic, rubber and other materials is sold to scrap metal businesses.

New novel imagines a future where all we’re left with is our plastic pollution

As Shell builds its petrochemical facility to make the building blocks of plastic in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and more ethane crackers are being considered for the region, a novel about plastic pollution in Appalachia seems well timed.Trashlands cover

This year’s Trashlands takes place in an eponymous junkyard where decades into the future a
group of people try to squeeze an existence out of the scraps that remain from our modern way of life.

The central character, Coral, named for the coralroot orchid, which has gone extinct, struggles to keep her family together and make sense out of this dystopian reality. Coral doesn’t remember a time when there were four seasons, while she and scrapes together meals from flour made of crickets.

Author Alison Stine created this world. A journalist and staff culture writer at Salon, Stine’s previous speculative fiction book, Road Out of Winter won the 2021 Philip K. Dick Award. The Allegheny Front’s Kara Holsopple spoke with Stine about some of the themes in Trashlands.

LISTEN to the interview