Tag: plastic-waste-trade

The global plastic waste trade is an environmental disaster hiding in plain sight, fuelling organised crime, working conditions that amount to human rights violations and devastation to human health and the environment.

Evidencing illegalities in the global plastic waste trade. In the first of this two-part report, we reveal the latest scam: exploiting the UK‘s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for packaging recycling with discarded wheelie bins. Despite the efforts of law enforcement agencies to track and dismantle illegal operations, the ongoing consequences of illegal trade inflicts devastating harm to human health and the environment.

As the production of plastics grows exponentially and the use of short-lived plastics proliferates, so too does the amount of plastic waste produced.

As awareness of the issues brought about by agriplastic use are growing, so too is the search for alternative products or methods.

British farms produce 135,500 tonnes of soil-contaminated agricultural plastic waste each year – roughly equivalent in weight to 900 adult blue whales.

Agriplastics are used widely in agriculture to grow and store produce, but are also responsible for widespread pollution, from their manufacture and use to mismanagement at the end of their useful life.