South Korea: Environmentalists demand top shipping companies stop transporting plastic waste Environmental activists protested with banners and placards calling for an end to plastic pollution at a waste conference in South Korea on Wednesday.
Many countries lack basic waste management facilities. This affects the health of their citizens and the environment. The waste trade allows plastic production to continue with impunity. This leads to marine plastic pollution. Therefore, they demand that a plan be devised and implemented to reduce and solve plastic.
Research Officer and Honorary Secretary, Mageshwari Sangaralingam said that although countries are allowed to transport plastic waste, there is no incentive to reduce the use of plastic and waste. “If we continue with today’s practices, plastic will not stop flowing into the sea. Countries should stop exporting plastic waste,” he said.
Plastic waste from the United States, the UK, the European Union, Japan and Australia is often exported to countries in Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America in the name of ‘recycling’. The protesters demanded that the traders withdraw from the use of single-use plastics (SUP).
