ŷ������

Beijing notified the World Trade Organization in July that it plans to ban the import of 24 varieties of solid waste, including types of plastic and unsorted paper commonly sent from the U.S. The ban starts in September.

Recycled waste is the America's 6th biggest export to China. The ISRI estimates that roughly a fifth of the trade is at risk.

There are a number of consequences in this action. First off, the US, and other countries will have to find new places to ship "recycled" materials that they don't want to process. Supposedly the banned US recycled material is cleaner than China's comparable recycled material which means that China's recycling industry will have to work with lower grade material the same way the US will.

The article implied that the Chinese recyclers might start burning or landfilling their own low grade recycled materials, so China should continue to process the recycled material that other countries don't want to process. This is a classic example of NIMBY, Not In MY Back Yard. What are they doing with it now????

According to the article "China has an environmental crisis on their hands and they need to do something about it, but we don't agree on imposing an outright ban," said Adina Adler, an official at the U.S. Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI). "That's not the answer."

An interesting response, as it amounts to a demand that China continue as a dumping ground for recycling operations that have found it that it can be much cheaper to ship scrap from the U.S. to China than to send it by rail from Los Angeles to Chicago, according to Adam Minter, a journalist, which he explains in his book "Junkyard Planet."

Robert wrote: "Beijing notified the World Trade Organization in July that it plans to ban the import of 24 varieties of solid waste, including types of plastic and unsorted paper commonly sent from the U.S. The b..."
I always wondered what happens to our "recycled" trash! I like to point out that the first R of the waste mantra is "reduce", "recycling" is the last!

My transfer station no longer accepts any other plastic than bottles where the opening is smaller than the bottle, meaning mostly #1 drinking bottles. They used to take numbers 1 to 6. That's a very bad sign. I keep looking for products I use in glass.

As mounds of goods are compressed into 1-ton bales, he points out some: a roll of linoleum, gas cans, a briefcase, a surprising number of knitted sweaters. Plus, there are the frozen food cartons and plastic bags that many people think are recyclable but are not.

China will no longer accept this kind of recycled material starting Jan 1, although the Chinese government has already stop issuing import licenses to some Chinese companies that import foreign recycled materials.

It was a pretty simple solution, you sort the recycled items before you they get compressed into bales to be sold. Easy money. Now the Chinese are tired of sorting out the junk and then having to dispose of the garbage in their own country so they have cut back the importing of recycled materials. Their constantly rising standard of living has also contributed to an increasing supply of their own material that needs to be sorted out and recycled or dumped as garbage.

One of the solutions is two kinds of recycling bins, one for paper only. Another solution is the use of robotic arms overseeing conveyor belts of recycled materials. The robot arms can pick out 80 items a minute while humans can only pick out 30 items a minute. That would make a recycling center a big investment and probably reduce the number of people employed at recycling centers.

US government wants China to reverse it's ban on foreign trash.

The affected countries are claiming it is a violation of free trade. You take my garbage or I'm gonna sue you for making me take care of my garbage, err, any developing countries want to make a fast buck?

I am surprised that this is not getting more attention.

Shipping to developing countries that have looser environmental regulations and whose workers have a much lower standard of living is not a sustainable choice, in my opinion.

Not sure what the long term solution should be, but something like a recycle fee, similar to what is place for tires, for all consumed goods, depending on content, may be worth looking into.

Something has to happen. I guess we didn't have a sustainable system in the first place. We are a point where the problems are physically at our doorstep.

China has a bustling middle class population the size of the entire US population. They are consumers just like everyone else and are generating plenty of garbage that needs to taken care of. China has enough garbage to take care of, they are not required to process other people's trash especially when they already have their hands full.

Putting recyclables into the garbage cans is going to disrupt the flow of regular garbage as everyone is already trying to reduce the volume of garbage that can't be recycled. The plans I have seen for trash to energy are also relying on reducing the volume of garbage that is turned into energy, not increasing it.

Robert,

Good points..

I think the point that many people miss is that China and India combined have a population of 2.7 billion, compared to the US of 325 million. As the standard of living increases in these two countries, imagine the resources that will be consumed and the pollution generated.

India's middle class is also the size of the entire US population. They are just following our lead. The fact that we were there first doesn't count for anything. Africa, though slower to change economically and not quite as consumer oriented [ buying because you can buy] is also home to a middle class of around the same size.

"A stinking trainload of human waste from New York City is stranded in a tiny Alabama town, spreading a stench like a giant backed-up toilet �� and the “poop train�� is just the latest example of the South being used as a dumping ground for other states�� waste."

It was supposed to be used to generate methane but the deal fell through, no one wants it, so another deal to dispose of the waste has to be put together.

Ireland's public broadcaster RTE has conducted a six month investigation into waste disposal. They uncovered several firms collecting waste, for which they bought licences and were paid by the public, and illegally burying or burning it over long periods.
Domestic waste was buried beside a major watercourse in a Special Area of Conservation.
One firm owner had had several fines imposed for improper waste disposal in the past, and a council still gave him the contract to collect more.
Another firm vastly exceeded the amount specified in a year by the terms of its licence, every year for several years.
Reporting waste haulier firms to local councils did not seem to produce any actions.
Inspections by the EPA did not seem to turn up any issues.


And this is when they could ship recycling material abroad.

Councils decided to sell off waste contracts as firstly, they could make money, and secondly, they would not have to be responsible for waste. Privatising however has not worked to the expected standards. And civil servants currently want to sell off Ireland's water supply and waste water treatment, for the same reasons. Can you imagine?

Mind you, the councils are willing to spend fortunes pursuing those who fly-tip.


Quote from one of the more egregious accounts:
"By collecting waste from households and other customers, not bringing it to licensed disposal sites, and paying the fees such sites charge, Ferry has been able to inflate his profits while simultaneously undercutting other waste collectors in Donegal.

It was largely at the insistence of aggrieved competitors that Donegal County Council, working with Werla, initiated the crackdown on Ferry in November 2016, that led to the High Court order of April."

Waste problem or not we all need to continue recycling where possible.
The EU insists that we all pay a WEEE which is Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment fee when we buy a good. This funds the provision of free recycling facilities. It is free at the end of the item's life in other words, because we paid for that recycling up front. This is how they enforce the 'polluter pays principle'.

Generally with these goods it is the metals which are recovered.

I have written on my ŷ������ blog this month about how I recycled computer equipment before going back to college.

/author_blog...

Relevant:
The People's Republic of Chemicals

Robert wrote: ""A stinking trainload of human waste from New York City is stranded in a tiny Alabama town, spreading a stench like a giant backed-up toilet �� and the “poop train�� is just the latest example of the..."

"In Parrish, Alabama, population 982, the sludge-hauling train cars have sat idle near the little league ball fields for more than two months, Mayor Heather Hall said. The smell is unbearable,"
That's going to encourage the kids to keep fit.

Dreadful story. I note that the Carolinas were being considered as a dumping ground for radioactive nuclear waste. Given the flooding we've just seen, I hope that didn't occur.
Here's another tale of corruption and toxic waste in New Jersey.
Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin

At the end, the illegally dumped farmers' field waste is being dealt with, but the company that equally polluted river and ground is eyeing Alabama as a new location.

Here is a fiction tale of excellent quality looking at Texas as a similar venue.
Damaged Goods by Alexandra Allred

China's shut down of accepting unlimited quantities of recyclable materials is starting to cost cities money. New York villages and towns are reexamining their polices for household recycling amid price increases. The number of items that can taken in are decreasing and more sorting will be required by the residents before it is picked up.

And it's mostly still going to poor countries. Which, to be frank, really don't need more rubbish.

India to end plastic scrap imports

Two Chinese companies are setting up plastic recycling processing operations in the US to obtain clean streams of recycled plastic. They won't be taking everything. Countries in southeast Asia may start enacting restrictions on plastic imports as quantities increase.

The plastic recycling business is running into problems now that it can't be effortlessly exported to other countries. There are 3 choices, burn it, bury it, or upgrade facilities. Producing less plastic is another option but doesn't appear to be on the table.

Return To Sender.

Perhaps Return to Designer would be better. The idea that the designers are not responsible for how something gets used is good for innovation. You can't always determine how something will be used but you can provide a suitable means of disposing of the item when it is something like the used container. That has nothing to do with how an item gets used. With 8 billion people using stuff, once the item has been used the problem is too big to ignore to not be part of the overall design.

Gizmodo looked at the waste / recycling / burning situation in Philadelphia. This is an excellent article giving an overview and asking questions.

Recycling e-waste is a growing problem: this article says half the world's people now use the internet.

Ten surprising items that can be recycled (maybe not in your area) including dentures. Who knew?

Limerick, a city on the Shannon, is protesting the licensing of a cement firm to burn various kinds of waste.
Cement particulates in the air are already hazardous as they get into the lungs. I'm expecting that issue has been dealt with but the proposal to burn wastes including plastics, sludge, tyres etc.... not popular. Around 2,000 people marched in the pouring rain to protest.



" The public concern over Irish Cements plans is largely fueled after it was prosecuted in court for breaching the terms of its industrial emissions licence.
Last December the company pleaded guilty at Limerick District Court arising out of a prosecution brought by the EPA, to breaching the terms of its industrial emissions licence at its Limerick plant.
The company apologised and was fined ��4,000.
The court heard a thick “glue-like�� dust leaked from its Limerick plant, causing damage to nearby homes, cars and gardens.
The court heard Irish Cement Ltd had three previous convictions for similar breaches of its industrial licence, including two in July, 2018, and one breech in 2007. "

Caution: Adults At Work

Greenstone in Ireland aims to recycle demolition waste from building sites and make new aggregate.
Current planning laws here require all demolition waste to be re-used on site, so it goes into foundations, under roads and for a hard standing, say. Greenstone will alter this, and they have a licence to do it, so can help reduce quarrying for fresh aggregate.

E-waste which is claimed to contain 7% of the world's gold is being dumped. A suggestion is to clean it up using microbes.

The global electronic waste probably also has more easily accessible substances that people want to tear up the ocean floors for. The problem is it cost nothing to throw something away, but any kind of handling after a product has become junk cost money. Combine the money saved by not doing the right thing everywhere with everything to the money made by doing things like making a profit off the covid 19 situation and you might end up with a monetary value of what it will cost to lose the world.

These are good points.

The Gardai (Irish police) came upon a tipper truck illegally dumping builder's waste.
30 tonnes of waste.
And as you can see from the photos, the driver just went down a secluded country lane and opened the tailgate. He wasn't even attempting to dump to one side of the road - right across it.
I imagine the neighbourhood watch had called the Guards because what was a truck doing down the local lane at 8.30 at night?



Paying to dump 30 tonnes of waste, could be the difference between turning a profit or not, and quite likely anyone who would do this is not paying VAT and other taxes.
Ever notice how it's always the criminals who commit crimes?

Posted on Linked In by Fairphone:

"Today we’re proud to officially announce the Fairphone 3+, our most sustainable smartphone yet. 🙌

The Fairphone 3+ is an upgraded version of the Fairphone 3 with improved cameras, upgraded software and even more fair materials, but here’s the twist: The exact same modules can also be used to upgrade the Fairphone 3. No other brand offers this. 🌍📱

The Fairphone 3+ will also come with Android 10 pre-installed, and this update will be available for current Fairphone 3 owners too. Making electronics longer-lasting, repairable and upgradeable is an important part of the fight for a brighter future. The Fairphone 3+ is the latest example of our commitment to a different way of doing things.

Read more: "

Clothes recycling is suffering. Mainly due to Covid-19. Too many waste clothes, not enough buyers. Not enough money to buy. And not mentioned, many shops are shedding stock, like right now they will be shedding summer clothes, not storing them for next year.
Thanks to RTE for this story.

"From London to Los Angeles, many thrift shops and clothing banks outside stores and on streets have been deluged with more clothes than could be sold on.

This has resulted in mountains of garments building up in sorting warehouses.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic began early this year, textile recyclers and exporters have had to cut their prices to shift stock as lockdown measures restrict movement and business slows in end markets abroad.

For many, it is no longer commercially viable and they can not afford to move merchandise.

"We are reaching the point where our warehouses are completely full," Antonio de Carvalho, the boss of a textile recycling company in England wrote to a client in June, asking for a price cut for clothes he collects.

De Carvalho pays towns for clothing collected in his containers then sells it on at profit to traders overseas.

Since May, he said, the price he has been able to charge overseas buyers had dropped from £570 a tonne to £400, making it hard for his company, Green World Recycling, to cover the costs of collecting and storing items.

Buyers were also asking to increase the credit periods before they had to pay from 15 days to 45-60 days, adding to cash-flow problems, de Carvalho wrote.

"We are losing a huge amount of money, making a big loss for the operation."

De Carvalho's experience is mirrored across the sector, suggesting that, even once the pandemic passes, the battered trade could take a long time to recover. "

...
"The consequences of the decline can be seen in countries like Kenya, which imported 176,000 tonnes of second-hand clothing in 2018, equivalent to over 335 million pairs of jeans.

Business is sluggish in the open-air Gikomba market in Nairobi, one of the biggest second-hand clothes market in East Africa. Shop assistants stand idle while traders call out to shoppers asking them to try their garments

Traders have been hit with a double-whammy of the shrinking supply, exacerbated by the government banning the import of used textiles in March on concerns they could carry the novel coronavirus, and a drop in footfall due to people staying home."

And this is the issue with landfills. We see that even closed ones can present hazards and require work for safety. We're not told here exactly what the issues are, but they probably involve water leaching with contaminants, and methane gas.
Landfill proposals have to meet stricter requirements before they may be opened today. Also, they used to be sited away from homes, but now the homes have been built in far more spread locations.

"In relation to future costs associated with work on the remaining sites, the C&AG has recommended the Department develop medium term estimates, stating that Ireland's past reliance on landfills means that remediation and ongoing monitoring of closed sites will remain a "significant" cost into future years.

As responsibilities in relation to the oversight and management of waste in Ireland are spread across a number of public bodies, the C&AG has recommended the Department conduct a comprehensive review of governance arrangements - to ensure appropriate steps are taken to eliminate risks to the environment and communities.

The C&AG said the Department should develop proposals for ensuring that all outstanding risk assessments are completed on a "timely basis" and that remediation plans are put in place as a "matter of priority" in respect of those landfill sites which are assessed as of either moderate or high risk.

According to the report, more than half (152) of the 280 sites operated by local authorities and subsequently closed between June 1977 and March 1997 have been assessed as of either moderate or high risk. "

Recycling or dumping includes dirty money.

Interesting short (8 min) podcast in this article, from author of a book The Laundrymen: Inside the World's Third Largest Business

The economic effects of corona are incredibly high and only going to get higher. It is a recession if your job does not involve a computer which means you sat it out at home but still are employed. The other group of people still on track are the people directly involved with interacting directly with the virus, from medical care to cleaning up the streets. For the people without these life lines life is very hard right now and getting harder. If everything goes wrong, like no vaccine, all the money being hoarded by all the companies and all the people who have far more than they need might become worthless.

One proposal actually put into play for old landfills is to cap the whole area and stick a pipe under the cap that collects the methane and use the collected methane for the fuel for a power plant that produces electricity.

More on clothing as stores shut because people are buying on line.
I'm placing this one here because retailer H&M is mentioned (along with Zara), and they were 'struggling to reduce inventory' for some time. To the degree that they burn unsold clothing in waste to energy plants. The spokesperson has said that these are clothes damaged in the store. Again, fast fashion is not worth repairing.

"H&M, which over decades expanded its network of shops around the world, will aim to cut their number by a net 250 next year, representing 5% of its current network.

The retailer has been shutting more stores and opening fewer over the past couple of years as it adapts to the online shift that is driving more competition.

The company said earlier this year its net number of stores would decline already in 2020.
...
"In the March-May quarter, the pandemic had pushed H&M into a steep loss, its first in many decades, as sales halved.

H&M said its September sales were down 5% year-on-year in local currencies after they fell 19% in the three months through August.

Of more than 5,000 stores worldwide, 3% remain temporarily shut against around 80% at the height of lockdowns, it said.

H&M, which has struggled for years to stop a rise in inventories, said those were unchanged from a year earlier. Markdowns increased half a percentage point, and H&M predicted they would grow 1-1.5% in the current quarter."

The Register tells me:

"Apple in January sued the Canadian arm of Global Electric Electronic Processing (GEEP) for allegedly reselling roughly 100,000 iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches that were supposed to be broken up and recycled.

The lawsuit, first reported last week by The Logic, a paywalled Canadian tech publication, reportedly prompted a countersuit from GEEP Canada in July in which the recycler claimed the gadgets were resold by three rogue employees and that their little side hustle was not official policy.

According to The Logic, Apple claimed the iPhone maker sent GEEP more than half a million devices to be recycled between January 2015 and December 2017. When Apple audited the facility, it supposedly found lapses in on-site security, and then reviewed the serial numbers of the devices it had shipped.

Apple is said to have discovered that almost 20 per cent, or about 100,000, of the devices associated with those serial numbers were still active on mobile carrier networks. As a result, the iGiant is seeking $31m CAD ($23m) in damages plus any profit GEEP made on the resale."



Green or not green? Corporate social responsibility?

Thanks to The Register for a story about a new repairable phone.

"Hoping to break the cycle of environmental catastrophe that is consumer tech, Teracube's next eco-conscious and repairable smartphone is available for pre-order on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo.

The Teracube 2e's specs are fairly humdrum, but you'd expect as much given its ticket price of $139.

Under the hood is a low-end MediaTek Helio A25 processor. This is accompanied by 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. The screen is a 6.1-inch IPS display, with a resolution of 720x1,560. At the top, you'll find an 8MP selfie camera housed in a teardrop notch. On the back, you've got a dual-camera setup with a 13MP primary sensor and an unspecified 8MP secondary shooter.

Teracube said the 2e was built with self-servicing in mind. The firm promises it hasn't committed any of the usual fixability sins, eschewing the usual globs of adhesive in favour of standard screws.

You don't have to use a heat gun to remove the back plate; it just snaps off. Similarly, the battery isn't directly connected to the logic board with a ribbon cable, but rather through an old-style contact-based system. This means the only tools you need to remove the battery are your hands."

"A shipyard in Aliaga, Turkey, is making headlines for its dismantling of five luxury cruise ships. According to Reuters, the shipyard is expecting three more ships to begin to take apart. Kamil Onal, chairman of a ship recycling industrialists�� association, told the outlet that before the pandemic, Turkey’s “ship-breaking yards�� tended to work with cargo and container ships."



Article features a slideshow of astonishing drone photos of these luxury craft being dismantled.

Closer to home: home furnishings.

"The Irish and British arms of IKEA are offering to buy back unwanted IKEA furniture from customers, which it will then resell in stores as second hand, it said today.

It said the "Buy Back" initiative, launching on 27 November, is part of the world's biggest furniture retailer's goal of becoming "a fully circular and climate positive business by 2030".

The scheme will see customers given vouchers to spend at IKEA stores, the value of which depends on the condition of the items they are selling back. "

That is a growing online trend in the clothing industry, mostly powered by consumers. Cars are just starting to be marketed online that way. Now if they would only do that for the electronic industry on a large scale basis. This probably the best way to recycle these things. The used items could also be shipped to countries that have developing economies to better supply emerging consumer markets with affordable products everyone can use.

Spectacles that are no longer needed are collected by charities and sent abroad in just that manner.

"It was a charity collection bin for old glasses, for an organisation for Vision Aid Overseas. Which gave me a little lightbulb moment. Of course that’s what you should do with your old specs. Not leave them lying around in your childhood bedroom, like a visual time machine of prescriptions past. You should give other people the gift of sight."

Read more:

The place I used to get my glasses at had been doing that for 50 years.

The actual charities doing this work may vary with your location, but yes this is a great service.

The Lions Club always needs volunteers:



They have been doing that since 1925.

Great one, Jimmy!

More on making batteries easier to recycle.

I want to be able to buy biodiesel at the pumps which is made from recycled cooking fat. But the oil firms own the stations so that will never happen unless it is required by legislation.
Recycling chip fat into biofuel is getting easier.

"Waste cooking oil currently has to go through an energy-intensive cleaning process to be used in biodiesel, because commercial production methods can only handle pure feedstocks with 1-2% contaminants.

The new catalyst is so tough it can make biodiesel from low-grade ingredients, known as feedstock, containing up to 50% contaminants.

It is so efficient it could double the productivity of manufacturing processes for transforming rubbish like food scraps, microplastics and old tyres into high-value chemical precursors used to make anything from medicines and fertilisers to biodegradable packaging.

The catalyst design is reported in a new study from an international collaboration led by RMIT University, published in Nature Catalysis.
.....
"Molecules initially enter the sponge through large pores, where they undergo a first chemical reaction, and then pass into smaller pores where they undergo a second reaction.
It's the first time a multi-functional catalyst has been developed that can perform several chemical reactions in sequence within a single catalyst particle, and it could be a game changer for the $US34 billion global catalyst market.

Co-lead investigator Professor Karen Wilson, also from RMIT, said the new catalyst design mimicked the way that enzymes in human cells coordinated complex chemical reactions.
...
"The sponge-like catalysts are cheap to manufacture, using no precious metals.

Making low-carbon biodiesel from agricultural waste with these catalysts requires little more than a large container, some gentle heating and stirring.

It's a low-technology, low-cost approach that could advance distributed biofuel production and reduce reliance on fossil fuel-derived diesel.

"This is particularly important in developing countries where diesel is the primary fuel for powering household electricity generators," Wilson said."


More information: A spatially orthogonal hierarchically porous acid–base catalyst for cascade and antagonistic reactions, Nature Catalysis (2020). DOI: ,
Journal information: Nature Catalysis
Provided by RMIT University

"Not all the blame is pointed at retailers and vendors. Consumer habits play a huge role. Faulty or obsolete electronics aren't always properly recycled. They languish in the loft, or are sent to the landfill with other household waste. Households were responsible for sending 155,000 tonnes of e-waste to landfill and incinerators in 2017, with an additional 190,000 tonnes hoarded at home. Businesses produced a further 145,000 tonnes.

And that's before we even mention the indeterminate amount of obsolete tech (estimated between 32,000 tonnes and 209,000 tonnes) illegally exported to the third world, where precious metals are extracted in the most harmful and exploitative conditions, sometimes by children.

We all share a degree of culpability, but the activities of some vendors definitely don't help. The paper references design practices where previously easy-to-remove components, such as hard drives and memory, are now soldered to circuit boards, or affixed to the chassis with intractable dollops of glue.

Apple, of course, is among the worst offenders. But these practices aren't merely limited to IT. They've crept into the world of white goods. Some washing machines, for example, have their drums fixed in place. When they fail, the only option is to buy a new one."

"The European Parliament has adopted a resolution aimed at making it clearer which devices stand a chance of being repaired.

It is all in the name of sustainability and, as the Eurocrats put it, "putting an end to premature product obsolescence." The hope is that consumers, who are already not averse to the idea of repairing rather than replacing, according to the European Parliament, will be more confident in second-hand products if there are guarantees to cover product repairs."



A friend recently got a new phone - a basic spec, but still way better than my older one. And the battery is a fixed item. Can't be removed or swapped.