The UK Government's Refusal to Act is Fuelling Plastic Pollution in the Global South
Laura Tendall / Feb 19 / Climate Policy
The UK is addicted to plastic. It’s durable, lightweight, and cheap - perfect for packaging. It’s so commonplace that many of us hardly bat an eyelid when we give bananas a second skin or half-fill crisp packets only to puff-out the rest with air. In 2019, almost 900,000 tonnes of plastic packaging passed through the tills of the UK’s 10 largest supermarkets. This is roughly the weight of 90 Eiffel Towers. In fact, the UK is the second-biggest producer of plastic waste in the world, surpassed only by the US. But where does all this single-use plastic go? Well, we know it harms the environment, so most of us probably recycle what we can. So it’s not that bad, right?
Actually, statistics state that the UK recycles just 45% of its plastic waste. What’s even worse though, is that much of this never actually gets recycled (this percentage indicates only what has been sent for recycling, not where it ends up). In truth, the UK doesn’t currently have the means to process all of this waste, and roughly two-thirds of the UK’s plastic ‘recycling’ is loaded onto boats and shipped off to the Global South, to countries such as Malaysia, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Indonesia (and, before imposing a ban in 2018, China). The problem is, these countries don’t have the capacity to sustainably manage all of this waste either, and with hundreds of thousands of tonnes of plastic dumped on their shores each year, they are often left with no choice but to set it on fire or chuck it in waterways, severely impacting both human health and the natural environment.
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Malaysia's environment minister Yeo Bee Yin points out that “what the citizens of the UK believe that they sent for recycling is actually dumped in our country”, “traded under the pretext of recycling”.
When plastic is burnt, organic compounds called Persistent Organic Pollutants are released. These can cause reproductive disorders, immune system deficits, cancer and even death. When plastic is offloaded into waterways, important gas exchanges are disrupted, greatly threatening marine ecosystems. In addition, the chemical by-products left behind after burning also end up in waterways, drastically harming water quality and resulting in eutrophication, which creates ‘dead zones’ where almost no organisms can survive. This devastation of ecosystems has led to “huge economic losses'' as it directly impacts “water supplies, fisheries, transportation and even tourism”. Even when attempts have been made to ‘properly’ process the plastic waste, insufficient facilities mean pollution control measures are often compromised, and the local environment remains subject to further degradation. Recycling the plastic waste requires it to be jet-hosed and disinfected, sending toxic dyes streaming into waterways. It’s then melted down, generating toxic emissions which contribute to extreme air pollution and aid in the formation of acid rain. These practices increase greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the capacity of water bodies to act as natural carbon sinks, thereby contributing significantly to global climate change.
All of this sounds a stark contrast to the nonchalant manner in which we potter about our kitchens, setting aside milk cartons and yoghurt pots before popping our weekly collection out on our doorstep.
Plastic pollution is a major killer in the developing world
However, on January 1st 2021, as a result of amendments made at the 2019 Basel Convention, a new European law came into force, banning all unsorted and contaminated plastic waste from being shipped to non-OECD countries. Of course, because of Brexit, the UK is now not legally bound by this law. However, in the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto, Boris Johnson’s administration did explicitly pledge to “ban the export of plastic waste to non-OECD countries”, so it was expected that the UK would adopt the same rigorous policies as the EU.
Instead, however, despite claiming to “lead the world in tackling plastics pollution”, the UK’s Conservative government has chosen to adopt a far less stringent policy which, in essence, allows us to continue business as usual. This new policy - called ‘prior informed consent’ – now requires us to ask permission before shipping off and dumping our waste (no, we weren’t doing this before). While this system might appear to improve trade transparency, it remains open to abuse. It is also a clear indication of the UK’s complacency in regard to the export of plastic waste and, by extension, broader issues of climate change and environmental racism.
Johnson has had almost 2 years to follow through on his manifesto pledge, yet he has taken no meaningful steps towards doing so. If he pledged to stop exporting plastic waste to non-OECD countries, then why hasn’t he been rapidly investing in domestic recycling?
In the context of Covid-19, the decision to continue business as usual is especially problematic as the pandemic has exacerbated the consumption of single-use plastics. Safety concerns regarding Covid-19 contamination have increased demand for plastic-wrapped fresh produce, and the requirement to use personal protective equipment has resulted in widespread production of single-use masks - estimates conclude that if every UK citizen used one single-use mask per day for a year, it would generate at least 60,000 tonnes of contaminated plastic waste.
For an administration who continuously prioritise profit over people, their feckless approach hardly comes as a surprise – it’s cheaper for us (in the short term) to export our problem than to incur the costs of dealing with it ourselves. At the same time, it enables us to meet recycling targets, and thus claim environmentalism without taking any responsibility for where this waste ultimately ends up. In this way, we allow ourselves to reap the benefits of plastic and pass the negative impacts onto others.
But the Conservative government’s programme of austerity is causing severe social and environmental harm which, in many cases, will end up costing us far more to address down the line than if we addressed the issues now. Mark Carney, who was previously the Governor of the Bank of England and is now the United Nations Envoy on Climate Action and Finance, warns that "When you look at climate change from a human mortality perspective, it will be the equivalent of a coronavirus crisis every year from the middle of this century” unless green investment doubles. Evidence clearly shows that the cost of tackling climate change will be much less than the cost of doing nothing. Our Government must stop being so short-sighted and begin an urgent investment into social and environmental sectors, which in the long run will be socially, environmentally and economically beneficial.
Implementing the law to prevent all unsorted and contaminated plastic waste from being shipped to non-OECD countries would have been a step in the right direction - if the UK was suddenly left with an accumulation of plastic waste on its own doorstep, we would have no choice but to confront our waste problem. In reference to this, Executive Director of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions Rolph Payet contends, “In the short term, yes, there will be landfilling, there will be incineration of the plastic waste… But in the long term, if government policies are right and if consumers keep applying pressure, it will create the environment for more recycling and a circular approach when it comes to plastic.” This would play a part in a ‘green-recovery’ from the Covid-19 pandemic, with investment in domestic recycling facilities also providing jobs, thus helping to repair the UK’s high unemployment rate.
Rather than committing to this type of meaningful action though, the UK government continues to delay, instead using simpler performative measures as a cop-out tactic, diverting public attention from their inaction in relation to larger structural issues. For instance, the government made a big song and dance about banning the use of plastic straws, but in reality these only account for 0.02% of ocean plastic.
Johnson’s failure to deliver on his plastic waste pledge is depressing, but after being witness to his incompetent ‘leadership’, it is certainly not uncharacteristic. He repeatedly fails to provide transparency about the intentions, progress and shortcomings of his commitments in just about every policy area. It’s unsurprising therefore that public trust in Johnson and his administration is lacking – among the British public, 70% blame the mismanagement of the Covid-19 crisis on the government and 65% believe Boris Johnson is directly responsible.
As a democracy, we should be able to rely on our government to follow through on its promises. In January, a petition was set up calling on Johnson to take accountability and finally stop the UK from exporting its plastic waste. After gaining over 90,000 signatures, Johnson responded stating “I am also proud of what we are doing to ban plastic and ban the export of plastic waste around the world, which is in our Conservative Party manifesto, Mr Speaker, which we will fulfil”. But when pressed to provide a time-frame, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs answered: “We currently plan to consult before the end of 2022 on options to deliver the proposed ban.” Johnson has nothing to be proud of - it’s been almost2 years since his pledge, and we should not need 2 more. It’s clear we have big strides to take, and if Johnson wants to earn back any morsel of credibility, he must make a swift transition from lip service to action.