Fake recycling
- Details
- Published on Thursday, 11 April 2019 03:28
- Written by editor
190 governments will vote in May on new rules to help prevent rich countries and giant corporations from dumping their plastic waste on poor communities.
We need the EU and more than 100 national governments to win this fight. Let’s go!
A,
In early May, governments around the world will meet in Switzerland for a vote on international rules to help force wealthy states and corporations to stop treating developing countries like dumps for their plastic rubbish.
In the past two decades, businesses in... the EU, US, Japan, Mexico and Canada have been exporting millions of tonnes of plastic waste overseas. That’s how European and North American plastic ends up choking the rivers and coasts of countries like Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.
Together, we can fight that plastic flood and environmental racism -- but we need a majority of governments to back the proposal.
You know how this works. If we show governments that this vote has massive public support, we can overcome the plastic industry lobbyists and polluters.
The Basel Convention is a legally binding agreement on cross-border waste disposal signed by almost every country in the world, including the European Union. With one small tweak, proposed by Norway, countries exporting their plastic rubbish would have to get the prior informed consent of the country receiving it -- so developing countries can keep shiploads of plastic pollution from landing on their shores.
But getting all 190 governments on board by May will be no easy task, especially with plastic industry lobbyists desperate to keep the status quo. That’s why we need this campaign right now.
We don’t have infinite cash to lobby governments like the plastic industry does. But if enough members like you add your name, spread the word, and chip in if you can, we can create a massive campaign that will win over enough countries to get the results we need!
Our tactics get results -- we saw that this year, when your contributions and online pressure helped convince the EU to take decisive action against single-use plastic. Now we need to redouble our efforts, to make sure that the flood of plastic pollution, and international dumping disguised as recycling to consumers, is stopped.
Thanks for all that you do,
Eoin and the team at SumOfUs
More information:
One small edit for a legal text, one giant leap for addressing plastic pollution: A new plastic waste proposal for the Basel Convention, CIEL, 30 August 2018
Why the world’s recycling system stopped working, Financial Times, 25 October 2018
SumOfUs is a community of people from around the world committed to curbing the growing power of corporations. We want to buy from, work for and invest in companies that respect the environment, treat their workers well and respect democracy. And we’re not afraid to stand up to them when they don’t.
Please help keep SumOfUs strong by chipping in CA$3
This email was sent to s6. |r0
