Exporting polluting plastic waste to developing countries will be banned or restricted under a new law.
Environmentalists say the bill should also include measures to reduce the amount of plastic produced in the first place. The EU can threaten to fine nations that fail to meet environmental laws – that threat forced the UK to tackle air pollution more seriously.The new Office of Environmental Protection won’t have the power to fine the government. What’s more, its members will be appointed by ministers, so critics say it won’t be fully independent.
The Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers said:"We are facing climate change and our precious natural environment is under threat. We need to take decisive action.
BBCWorld Scientists can come up with better solutions on how to dispose of plastic without getting rid of it completely, in the meantime we should not be sending our garbage to the third world countries it is wrong...
The rule presented to the UK Parliament is aimed at protecting poorer nations against becoming the dumping ground for unwanted rubbish.
BBCPolitics We’ll never solve the problem by hiding the dimensions of it. The trivial use of all polymers should be identified and legislated against including importation bans to prevent it joining our waste stream.
BBCPolitics Uk plastic waste needs to be first reduced, especially by the big manufacturers and distributors. Secondly be recycled here in the Uk. In QLD Australia citizens get 10cents back (approx 5p) for taking each plastic bottle or can to a recycling centre.
Well done Bill! Good luck!
davidpugliese ..should be worldwide ..no country should take other countries garbage unless there is a technology that can better deal with it ...cant beleive the garbage we ship by truck to Michigan out of TO area
I must say that I am somewhat surprised that we HAVE been doing this.
BBCWorld We have to stop producing this plastic junk in the first place.
We should sort out our own plastic rubbish unless, we make sure 100% , it doesn’t end up in a river or sea in Asia.
Surely in this day and age we can incinerate this waste and have capture filters or if not then just burn it anyway can't be any worse than polluting the oceans and killing marine life, I wonder how much a volcano pollutes compared to incineration
It's time that our country tackled the recycling problem. Each district council has different ways of dealing with refuse collection and disposal which is not helping to tackle the problem.
There should be only a handful of 'completely recyclable' types of plastic, allowed for use in packaging. If you want your product to stand out, you should have to use paper labels, on standard plastic containers. If we lead, the EU might follow! Often did, before we joined
Britain should stop sending it's human garbage to places like Magaluf.
BBCWorld That's a right call.
BBCWorld if they couldnt send it elsewhere UK would be under trash in no time...trash and fatbergs xD
BBCWorld Please keep your rubbish. Africa is not a dumping ground.
BBCWorld Good step but compensation to damages?
BBCPolitics But presumably not to developed countries?
BBCWorld Plastic packaging needs to disappear. There are already biodegradable forms out there. And to boot your trash off on third world countries that have no recycle capabilities, except kids picking 'useful' things, is really beyond wrong.
BBCWorld How can countries expect to work together for climate when one country produce waste and dump in other country. Height of irony.
We should definitely look at more alternative ways to repurpose plastics. I remember reading an article about people using bottles to create ecobricks. A cheap, viable solution to building shelters in more poor countries. I thought that was a great idea.
BBCWorld Keep your waste to yourself.
Finally! We should manage our own plastic waste and cut down on what we use. We should also be working with developing nations to help them cut down on their plastic waste but also getting them off plastic.
Good.
BBCWorld It's About time they managed their own wastes. Developing countries are not dump sites for your wastes.
About time. We need to deal with our own waste. Building propper recycling will be good for jobs too
Which is probably part of the reason that we've started burning it in incinerators.
BBCWorld How about a ban ON PRODUCTION OF PLASTIC!! PlasticPollution
What exactly are these countries developing into?
BBCBusiness Can’t come soon enough
Don't bother reporting this until the bill has been passed. Otherwise they'll take the credit but not actually follow through on the pledge. HaveYouNotLearntYet?
Challenging this to come up with efficient and economic ways to handle this,best scenario, all hazards are mastered and it will also be profitable. Best of luck.
BBCWorld They dont want a garbage island so make another island garbage kinda smart
BBCPolitics Scrap fee now who cares what bbc say
Great idea, as it only gets thrown back into the sea to pollute our oceans, Better we sort our crap out hear and ban all non recycled plastic, makes sense to me, 👍🇬🇧🇬🇮
About time. Stop divving around with supermarket bags and straws and tackle the problem. Don't produce/sell what can't be recycled.
...use this plastic waste to start manufacturing the road surfacing material
Yay! 😍
We can just throw it into our own rivers and save a fortune
Who is Bill?
BBCPolitics Send all garbage from developing countries to UK
It’s about time the cost of recycling was built into the selling price & handled in the UK imo, perhaps biodegradable packaging would the become viable
Nice
BBCPolitics Bill who?