Our plastic is polluting Asia’s rivers

There are few more remote beaches than those on Cape Arnhem, on the northern tip of Australia, says The Times. Few humans have ever set foot on them, yet they’re covered with plastic flotsam, most of which has been swept across the sea from Indonesia. And this tide of plastic litter is only likely to get worse over the coming years. Between 1992 and last year, 72% of the world’s plastic not destined for landfill was shipped to China and Hong Kong for recycling. But China is no longer accepting the waste that we don’t want – low-quality, single-use plastic that is of little or no value once recycled. The result, alas, is that much of this trash will end up in neighbouring states instead, countries with even fewer environmental regulations, where there is the very real risk that it will be dumped in waterways. Already, eight of the world’s ten most polluting rivers are in Asia. Is there anything we can do to stop this? Yes, we can ban or tax single-use plastic, and raise the quality of other forms of plastic packaging so that they have a value for recyclers. The problem of plastics in the ocean “is not insoluble”, but we must adapt.