China's plastic trash ban is spur to recycle: U.N. Environment
China’s crackdown on imports of plastic trash should be a signal for rich nations to increase recycling and cut down on non-essential products such as plastic drinking straws, the head of the U.N Environment Programme said on Monday.
Erik Solheim, a former Norwegian environment minister, urged developed nations to re-think their use of plastics and not simply seek alternative foreign dumping grounds after China’s restrictions took effect this month.
“We should see the Chinese decision – I heard some complaints from Europeans – as a great service to the people of China and a wake-up call to the rest of the world,” he said in a telephone interview from Nairobi.
“And there are lots of products we simply don’t need.”
photo credit: Seth Granville