Prohibition Pretty Much Chinese Essay

Different nations had mixed reaction to the ban. However, a common area between almost all the nations is the fact they relied on China to some extent. “The ban has majorly affected countries like the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Japan and others who relied on China to do away with their waste.”  Some areas in Australian started sending their recycled goods to landfills because of the because the change of the nature to relationship between them and China. The United States was sending nearly one third of their “scrap commodity exports” to China while the UK was sending “almost all of recycled plastic” to China.

The band is extremely influential as China is a key part of many countries recycling processes. Prior to the ban, China was the leader of importing plastic waste. The ban caused an excess amount of waste to be sent to Malaysia. “Plastic waste exported from the US to Malaysia more than doubled compared to the previous year.

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”  This increase occurred following the China ban as US need an alternative place to sent some of its exported plastic waste. Due to the sudden inflammation of exported plastic waste sent to Malaysia illegally, “in October 2018 the Malaysian government imposed a temporary ban on the import of most plastic scrap.”  This overall had a positive impact on the Malaysian recycling industry even though it temporary restricted the licensed recycling workers over there.

The US is really the country that suffered the most from these issues. Recently, some “Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and India” they began setting regulations for imported plastic waste from other countries.

This meant there was even more waste that had to stay here in the US. This is really the leading cause for our current environmental problems and pollution. Another country that was faced with extreme changes citing the China Ban was Australia. “The Chinese ban affected over 1 million tons of Australian waste.”  Australia was sending approximately the same amount of waste to China as the US was.

The major difference between the two is the way they received the information and the following steps that were taken. Australia immediately came up with an alternative plan for the long-term success of the Australian environment. They decided to “invest in trash-burning incinerators” and go eco by 2025. Therefore, smarter than the US approach to attempt to unload on other countries instead of just coming up with a long-term plan. Australia scarified short term for the bigger picture while the US didn’t. When all the facts of how waste is exported and imported to different places it is clear what caused the US to be in the current pollution state it is. In the heat of the China ban the US did not take responsibly for their waste if they did and started creating a detailed plan of execute then there wouldn’t be as many problems with waste and pollution right now.

The leading cause for many countries’ current environmental issues due to waste is “more items and products that could be recycled are just going to landfills because of limited resources.”  Moreover, landfills are so overload because not only waste at this point but some recyclable goods like plastic are just going there as well. Here in the US there are more and more changes to what is being recycled. In some areas in Oregon and Idaho people are told to “not to recycle mixed paper” and other places like California (Sacramento) fines could be implemented in the future if “garage is mixed with recycling.”  Everyone everywhere should reconsider the way they recycle following this issue.

The fact of the matter is plastic needs to be conserved. There also needs to be more uses for plastic so there is less single use of plastic products and packaging. Additionally, if there were clear recycling regulations in place as a country the US may have been able to fully combat the issue early on. As far as recycling specific to Georgia Southern, the university does a good job with its initiative. Therefore, as a school there really isn’t a need to change the way we recycle because of the Chinese ban. However, on a personally level (each student individually) it is a good idea to just conserve all recycled goods but specifically plastic as much as possible.

We can find multiuse purposes for some products so that the landfills don’t get all full. Another good change it makes is to use more glass and reusable bottles and glass over disposable plastic. Additionally, metal straws are a better option that paper. While paper was a better alternative to plastic metal is even better. Metal straws provide durability and multiuse as they can be washed and reused like silverware. The opportunity for Georgia Southern to be able to say “we did our part” is the main opportunity that will be presented by the necessary changes. After the students of Georgia Southern make these small adjustments our university is on its way to be even more environmentally friendly then we already are. Go Eco!