Greenpeace Reaffirmed Call to Ban Scrap Plastic Exports

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Greenpeace Aotearoa has renewed its call for ban on exports of plastic waste. This follows release of latest statistics on volume of exports of plastic waste from New Zealand to various developing nations.

The watchdog organization plastics campaigner Juressa Lee noted that the statistics are alarming and that an immediate change is required. Incidentally, the country had exported over 98,000 tonnes of plastic waste to other countries, between 1^st January, 2018 and 31^st March, 2021. Out of this, more than 46,000 tonnes were shipped to Malaysia and Thailand, data said.

It called for a ban on production of unnecessary single-use plastic items including plastic bottles. Also, the country should prioritize on replacing these items with sustainable alternatives. It pointed that the government’s recently announced plan to phase out “hard-to-recycle” single-use plastics does not include single-use plastic drinking bottles- the single main culprit for plastic pollution. As per estimates, nearly 1 billion single-use plastic bottles are discarded in the country every year.

The Greenpeace Aotearoa’s petition, calling for ban on plastic waste exports from New Zealand, currently has over 37,000 signatures.

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