Are we a wasteful planet? The answer is yes!
If we, as western societies continue as we are, it would take FIVE planets to absorb our waste! Think about this for a minute?
There is no Planet B! We must have a Plan A for Action and start putting pressure on governments now.
Toxic Colonialism
Toxic Colonialism is the practice of developed nations exporting waste to poorer third world countries.
Poorer countries are ill-equipped to handle toxic and hazardous waste. It often results in health issues for the population and grave environmental impacts.
As a result, affected communities lack the resources, knowledge, political organisation, or capital necessary to oppose these practices.
Instead of managing and containing their own plastics and hazardous waste, developed nations ship it by the container load to developing nations, which lack the facilities to store or dispose of it.
There is a sad truth that developing countries subject their citizens to toxic waste for monetary or economical gain, while the developed world takes full advantage of this situation to save money.
World Waste Facts
Every year, Western countries dump a staggering 2.12 billion tons of waste.
The types of waste include:
e-waste which contains heavy metals and toxic chemicals
hazardous chemical waste which often includes Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium, Chromium, Flame retardants, Vinyl chloride, Dioxins, Antimony, PCB, PCDD, PCDF, DDT!
Chemical waste produced in industries is often toxic and difficult to dispose of. To resolve this problem, some choose to export toxic waste to countries with little or no control in order to have their toxic waste simply discarded without treatment or safety measures.
The practice of shipbreaking is a very dirty business. Old ships often include toxic materials that contain for example lead, zinc chromates, mercury, arsenic, asbestos and more. The ships are run aground, some can be recycled but the rest is left on the beaches mostly in China, Bangladesh, and India.
POPs (permanent organic pollutants) are organic chemicals that pose a serious threat to human health and ecosystems. The persistent nature of POPs causes them to accumulate in humans and nature. Nevertheless, many POPs are still used as pesticides, for example.
Global waste trade dumpsites have at least one thing in common: they pose a serious threat to the health and the environment of the communities where they are located.
Around 64 million people live near dumpsites created by the global waste trade.
Countries such as Somalia, Ghana, Indonesia and Pakistan buy waste from the developed nations without regard to the health of their people or the environment.
Global Waste and the Pandemic
Globally, health care waste management systems have been strained to handle tens of thousands of tonnes of additional medical waste from the COVID-19 pandemic, putting public health at risk and highlighting the need for improved waste management practices.
Personal protective equipment (PPE), syringes, needles, safety boxes and testing kits pose a problem for their safe disposal and again the wealthier nations used the poorer countries already overloaded with waste.
WHO recommends eco-friendly packaging and transport, reusable PPE, biodegradable or recyclable materials and use of non-burning technologies like autoclaves for waste treatment, the use of reverse logistics for centralised waste treatment, and investments in recycling to ensure that materials, such as plastic, can have another life.
As a result of COVID-19, sustainable health care waste management is more necessary than ever to protect communities, health workers, and the environment.
It's not all doom and gloom
Leading green companies are becoming zero-waste businesses. A zero waste philosophy encourages redesigning products so that they can be reused.
Consider ways to reduce your carbon footprint or to offset it by planting trees and using less harmful transportation methods. Wind and solar power are becoming more popular.
Reducing consumption of single use plastics, Reusing or repurposing of products and UPcycling are methods used by companies and are becoming the norm.
Companies such as ENJO show you how a circular economy is done:
You can read about ENJO's philosophy here and contact @margaretkingenjopreneur with your questions:
Comentarios