BY HAMAH HOSEN –
The phrase has been ingrained into most of our lives since we were children, reminding us to continuously be environmentally conscious. On the face of things, it seems pretty simple. To reduce waste, we can stop using plastic bags. To reuse, we can upcycle our old clothes and use them as cleaning rags. To recycle, we place items into our yellow bins to be picked up and turned into reusable material. We appear to fulfilling our duties to commit to this phrase. But in reality, there is a 4th action that occurs in this process. Countries like Australia actually export their recyclable waste to other nations, most of which are Asian developing countries. That is, however, only up until recently.
Developing countries have recently said no more to being the developed world’s international dumping ground. This began with China’s decision in 2018 to ban the importation of 24 types of recyclable materials in order to protect the environment and public health. This had a significant impact internationally as in 2016, China imported two-thirds of the world’s plastic waste. Countries had been so heavily reliant on exporting waste that this decision resulted in the world’s advanced economies scrambling to adjust.
Australians were not immune to the effects of this decision. Resultant of China’s decision, Australia lost a market for a third of our household recyclables such as paper and plastics. In a panic to find quick solutions, recycling businesses have opted to storing recyclable materials into stockpiles in warehouses in the hopes that a better option becomes available. Other companies such as Visy, was reported to be no longer accepting material from ten regional Victorian Councils. Most significantly, traders have instead sent their recyclable materials to alternative offshore markets such as Thailand, Malaysia, India, Vietnam and Indonesia. While this has worked so far to mitigate the initial effects of China’s ban, the short term solutions are finally catching up to us.
China’s ban created a domino effect in other countries that import recyclable material. In the middle of 2018, Thailand and Vietnam also announced restrictions on imports. Vietnam stopped issuing import licenses, and Thailand plans to stop all imports by 2021. Albeit still accepting waste, Malaysia has also begun revoking import permits and Indonesia has begun inspecting import shipments. Now, the recycling crisis is becoming ever more urgent as India, Australia’s fourth-largest destination for plastic waste, announced a complete ban on the import of solid plastic waste into the country. These countries are restricting plastic imports because of the environmental and labour issues with the way the majority of the plastics are being recycled and because these countries have their own waste to manage. In all honesty, who can blame them for not wanting to deal with our literal crap? It’s evident that sooner or later these alternative offshore markets will close.
Even stockpiling the recyclable material is beginning to catch up to us. They are becoming a fire hazard and starting to overflow, leading to these materials ending up buried in landfill. This only just wastes materials that could be constructively used and will undoubtedly have long-term environmental consequences. Ideally, these materials should instead be utilised to make products, such as outdoor furniture, roads, or even playgrounds. But the current domestic market to produce such products is far too small to make a dent in our growing stockpiles. There are also not enough incentives for companies to use recycled materials in their production cycle. We need to do something about the evident garbage and plastic problem.
It is undeniable that plastic is heavily woven into the fabric of our lives and is used in everything from pens to mattresses. Individuals are becoming more conscious about the impact of plastic on the environment, but there’s only so much we can do if the government is not finding the correct methods to recycle. It doesn’t seem particularly fair that individuals are attempting to commit to ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ but policies and companies continue to hinder existing efforts. Although the Coalition Government promised during the recent election to implement a $203 million environment policy, at this stage, it is unclear whether this will be enough. What is clear is that we need to see change now.
We can’t continue to play catch up and push our problem away amidst the current recycling crisis. While recycling should be considered the last line of defence in eliminating waste, as in the order of the phrase, it should not be ignored. We can ask individuals to bring re-usable shopping bags, we can use keep-cups, and we can opt to not use single-use plastic such as straws. But the phrase isn’t just ‘reduce, re-use’. It also includes recycle. That’s what we need to tackle next.
