Latin America has called for a reduction in US waste exports to the region

The United States is the largest exporter of plastic waste to Latin America, although it has significantly reduced the total amount of waste since 2015, the Guardian reported on Monday, according to IRNA.

The move came after China, the main importer of plastic waste, announced that it no longer wanted to be the world’s landfill and imposed import restrictions.

Imports of plastic waste are on the rise around the world, not just in Latin America, which has cheaper labor and is geographically closer to the United States.

More than 75% of waste imports to the Latin American region are from Mexico, which in the period from January to August 2020 (December 1399 / August 1400) received more than 32,650 tons of plastic waste from the United States.

Research by the California-based environmental group Last Beach Clinic shows that El Salvador ranks second and third with 4,554 tons and Ecuador 3,665 tons, respectively.

Although the import of hazardous waste is often subject to tariffs and some restrictions, such regulations and restrictions are rarely applied, and plastic waste is used in the recycling process, according to research by the Global Coal of Waste Alternatives (Gaia). As of January this year, it was not considered hazardous under international law and often landfills.

The coalition report, released in July, also predicts an increase in plastic waste in the Latin American region as American and Chinese companies invest in recycling plants across the region to process US plastic exports.

Some see this as a form of environmental colonization.

Cross-border trade in plastic waste is a form of environmental colonization, according to Fernanda Solis, director of the Department of Health at the University of Ecuador. Latin America and the Caribbean is not America’s backyard. We are independent countries that want to respect the rights of nature and our nation.

Most countries around the world agreed in May 2019 to eradicate the flow of plastic waste from northern developed countries to poor countries in the south of the world. The plastic amendment to the Basil Convention prohibits the export of plastic waste from US private companies to developing countries without the permission of local governments.

But the United States did not ratify the agreement and is accused of continuing to transport waste to countries around the world, including Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.