This is absolutely false. Rich nations do not know what to do with all the trash they produce. Australia had been shipping their trash to Indonesia, Malaysia and other SE Asian countries [1] for quite a long time, until just recently when Malaysia decided it was enough. Australia is not the only rich country guilty of this.
The diabolical thing is that Australians believed their waste was being handled correctly, e.g not being shipped to poor nations so their rivers and streets could flood with our trash.
The fact remains that plastic exasperates the “disposable” mindset and it produces mindbending amounts of waste every year. Its a logistical and environmental nightmare
> Rich nations do not know what to do with all the trash they produce.
I don't think this generalisation is correct. PG [0] digged up some numbers in a twitter thread:
"The US, Canada, and all of Europe combined account for .87% of plastic emissions. The Philippines accounts for 36%.
The reason the Philippines emits so much is not that it's emitting waste shipped from the US, Canada, and Europe. Even if every kilogram of plastic waste shipped by the US to the Philippines ended up in the sea, it would account for less than 1% of the Philippines' emissions."
The diabolical thing is that Australians believed their waste was being handled correctly, e.g not being shipped to poor nations so their rivers and streets could flood with our trash.
The fact remains that plastic exasperates the “disposable” mindset and it produces mindbending amounts of waste every year. Its a logistical and environmental nightmare
[1] https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/why-australia-sends-its-wa...