#waste traffic

[earaercircular]

Waste export: lights and shadows of a rising European industry

The recycling industry has enabled the remains of other economic activities to be converted into exportable raw materials. However, criminals bypass regulations to profit.

“One man's trash is another man's treasure” is no longer just a saying, but the slogan of a sector that invoices more than 20 billion euros annually in exports, according to the most recent figures from Eurostat[1]. It is about the processing and export of waste, an industry directly linked to recycling and that rescues reusable materials from waste. The European Commission[2]  corroborates the boom: its latest estimates ensure that the volume of shipments abroad has increased by 75% since 2004. However, companies, NGOs and European legislators agree that the profitability of these activities attracts bad actors. elements, which bypass regulations to extract benefits clandestinely.

European waste shipments to third countries are mainly composed of materials recovered from other economic activities (such as scrap metal, demolition rubble or industrial waste). Ferrous metals are the main category in European waste exports, followed by paper and cardboard, non-ferrous metals, textiles, minerals, plastics and rubber, in that order. 37.5% come from the construction sector, whereas 23.4% come from extractive industries and 10.7% from the manufacturing sector. It should be said that exporting unprocessed waste is prohibited by European legislation (the current regulations date from 2006 and are based on the 1989 Basel Convention).

From the Spanish Federation of Recovery and Recycling (FER) [3], an association that brings together the main companies in the sector in Spain, they indicate that the main destination of exports is Türkiye. According to this association, about 14.7 million tons are sent per year from the European Union to this country. They are followed by India, that absorbs about 2.4 million tons, and Egypt, with 1.9 million tons.

On the other hand, within the European geographical borders, the main recipients would be Switzerland and England, that receive 1.7 and 1.5 million tons of processed waste per year respectively, according to the latest Eurostat figures (which correspond to 2021). . They are followed by Norway, that receives 1.4 tons, while Portugal, France and Germany also receive significant quantities, particularly of metals.

While India is the main Asian destination, Pakistan also receives around 1.3 million tonnes of European waste annually, according to Eurostat. Likewise, from the FER they explain that China is also an important market for metals such as copper and aluminum. “We must not forget that there is a trade balance and there are also imports. For example, Spain receives steel for the steel industry,” Alicia García-Franco, general director of the Spanish Recovery and Recycling Federation (FER), responds to CincoDías.

García-Franco attributes the boom in the sector to different factors. Some of the reasons he quotes are the proliferation of the circular economy, globalization and increased consumption. However, he highlights that the increase in exports in particular would be closely linked to the deindustrialisation that the continent has suffered in recent decades. “When there is no market within Europe, one has to export. Unfortunately right now there is not a very strong industry in the region. At the moment of export they are classified as waste, but what they really are, are raw materials. If there is no demand, they have to go to other places,” says the director of the FER.

Likewise, the employers' association highlights that the savings can be enormous when opting for raw materials from waste compared to those from other sources, especially in the domain of energy. “In terms of costs, extracting aluminum from bauxite consumes 95% more energy than if you take it from scrap. In copper, 85% is saved; for iron and steel, 72% is saved; in zinc, 60%. In the case of textiles it reaches 99% and in tires, 85%. This is reflected in the price,” explains García-Franco.

Along these lines, the FER highlights that, as such, the recycling and materials recovery sector already represents 1% of Spain's GDP, with a business volume of 10,000 million; and that in Europe the sector has a turnover of around 95 billion euros and represents more than 300,000 jobs.

That said, the employers' association adds that the sector has great growth potential, and that this can also be enhanced in the context of the search for strategic autonomy that the region wants to promote. However, they affirm that without a proportional growth of the local industry, the majority of production will continue to find buyers outside the old continent. “Right now Europe is developing the law on strategic raw materials, including rare earths. It is necessary to safeguard these materials, but reindustrialisation must be promoted at the same speed. No matter how much we manage to extract these minerals, if there is no demand within the EU we will not be able to sell it within the borders,” García-Franco emphasises.

Waste traffic

Criminals have also looked at the possibilities, potential and profitability of the sector. In fact, the European Commission estimates that, currently, more than a third of transfers abroad may be illicit. “Waste trafficking is one of the most serious environmental crimes today. It harms the environment but also legitimate businesses. Furthermore, there is a clear link between waste trafficking and organized crime,” states a statement from the European Commission. Along these lines, the Community Executive announced on November 17 that it would intensify surveillance of the sector with new legislation. In particular, the export of plastic waste to non-OECD countries will be prohibited, unless certain conditions are met.[4]

An example of this criminal activity has been the arrest of 25 people involved in an illegal waste trafficking operation in August by the Spanish Guardia. Those involved mainly exported vehicles at the end of their useful life and would have obtained benefits close to half a million euros by taking these products to African countries, Italy, Portugal and Poland. Law enforcement agencies emphasize the sophistication of these organizations, since the criminals had acquired numerous movable and immovable property, established companies, and had even opened investment funds.

“In every sector there are always those who do not comply with the law. It must be taken into account that this waste is taken as products, with the aim of being processed in places where there is no prevention of occupational risks, taxes are not paid and there are no adequate facilities. This way they reduce costs so that they get their bills,” says García-Franco, who adds that the regulation for legal companies is extremely rigorous in every part of the process.

Certain parts of civil society also draw attention to the environmental footprint left by illegal exports. “Waste must be treated as close as possible to where it was produced. For example, in the case of electronic waste there is a parallel circuit that is diverting these items to countries such as Ghana, Nigeria or Pakistan. Transportation leaves a brutal environmental footprint. Finally, ecological disasters are caused, because the waste cannot be processed properly and sometimes it ends up being incinerated,” Julio Barea, waste manager at Greenpeace Spain, responds to this newspaper.

Barea adds that this waste trafficking also causes economic damage to countries, since it absorbs products that would have to be processed and that could generate value within European borders. “This also happens with packaging, that reaches countries like Thailand and Malaysia. They end up contaminating the waters and the places where people live. It would be best not to export and treat everything as closely as possible. That is the most logical and sustainable thing,” says the Greenpeace spokesperson.

Along these lines, the NGO highlights that despite the legislation, a black market has been created. “There are many laws, but exports are mainly done from Spanish ports. There is no capacity to control all the containers that leave each day, and the authorities are focused on drugs and people. It is very difficult to supervise,” laments Barea.

In this context, Brussels has determined that it will promote the circulation of waste for recycling and reuse between Member States, framing the recent legislation in the EU's transition towards a circular economy and the security of supply of raw materials. That said, they assure that the EU will modernize current procedures for shipping waste, making them “more digital.” Likewise, expedited procedures will be made more “easy and efficient” for certain eligible facilities designated for these processes. “This will make it easier for waste to re-enter the circular economy throughout the EU, without reducing the necessary level of control for such shipments,” the Community Executive points out.

Source

Luis Alberto Peralta, Exportación de residuos: luces y sombras de una industria europea en ascenso, in: El País, 28-11-2023, https://cincodias.elpais.com/companias/2023-11-28/exportacion-de-residuos-luces-y-sombras-de-una-industria-europea-en-ascenso.html

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Waste_shipment_statistics#Exports_of_hazardous_waste_between_EU_Members_States_and_out_of_the_EU

[2] https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/waste-trade/

[3] The Federación Española de la Recuperación y el Reciclaje (Spanish Federation of Recovery and Recycling) brings together the interests of the waste recycling sector and defends them in different economic, social and environmental fields at a national and international level. https://www.recuperacion.org/fer/nosotros/

[4] Read also: https://www.tumblr.com/earaercircular/734267111128612864/export-of-waste-restricted-eu-can-clean-up-its?source=share

[chloeplayz]

“The ringmaster gone mad.”

“For you are the decaying society,

And me, a hare with a tiger’s mask.

So tell me, ringmaster, tell me,

Tell me to control my wrath.”

[romanticatheartt]

You know why I love Feysand? One of the reasons is because there's a balance between them. In a way they complete each other.

Feyre is all forgiveness, love and a pleaser.

But Rhysand on the other hand is all revenge, hate and never forget.

Whenever he's drowning in hatred for himself, for people who wronged his loved ones, she's there to pull him up and shower him with love, respect and reminding him of goodness.

And whenever she is being too forgiving to the point she's forgetting herself or to put herself first, he's there to bring justice and be a shield for her from the injustice of it all.

That's why this is one of my favorite scene of them:

He's saying he can't forgive anyone who wronged her. But she remembers the ones who wronged him and notices he doesn't care about himself, his hatred for himself won't allow it.

She's saying he has to forgive at some point. He's there to remind her that maybe it's okay to admit that some people have made her suffer.

It's this back and forth between them. It balances them.

He's always self sacrificing himself to keep his loved ones safe, to make them comfortable, to be a shield. And Feyre came to his life, saw right throw all of them and let him to burden her with some of those duties he put himself up for them.

Sometimes it's a wrong trait but it's never out of malice.

And she is always too forgiving, putting everyone else first, always backing down when some times she needs to back up for herself and she let herself to forget them. But he won't, he will remember, he'll defend her if it's needed and when someone crosses a line, he's there to remind them to back down.

Sometimes she let people take too much from her and it might hurt her in the process. A wrong trait of her.

They're the definition of "I will give my love for the both of us" and "I will give my hatred for the both of us"... does that make sense?

[guatemami]

I really said imma get everything done early so I can spend the day in LA before my concert. Atp I might miss her set bc I love bed rotting 🙇🏽‍♀️

[bumblebeeappletree]

Air pollution kills millions each year, especially in the world’s megacities. But we found some surprising news: In many places, it’s actually getting better! Here’s how megacities around the world are already making their air cleaner and safer. 

#planeta #smog #airpollution

We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.

Credits:

Author: Kira Schacht

Video Editor: Frederik Willmann

Supervising Editor: Kiyo Dörrer

Fact-check: Kirsten Funck 

With thanks for interviews (included and not):

Rafay Alam:

/ rafay_alam

Zoe Chafe: https://www.c40.org/our-team/zoe-chafe/

Sophie Gumy, Technical Officer at WHO's Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health

Frank Hammes, IQAir: https://www.iqair.com/

Bhavreen Kandhari:

/ bhavreen-kandhari-8028...

Abid Omar:

/ abidomar

Read more:

WHO Ambient (outdoor) air pollution:

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sh...

C40 – Air quality:

https://www.c40.org/what-we-do/scalin...

Pakistan Air Quality Initiative:

/ pakairquality

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:46 The problem

01:31 Our analysis

02:00 The causes

02:36 Transport

04:04 Industry

04:45 Waste

05:39 Energy

07:12 What now

09:46 Outro

[daandori]

had to go into the dt core for an appt and decided to hurt myself by going for a coffee surrounded by good-looking young professionals

[palmtreepalmtree]

Why are people so bad at making plans!? WHY?

[brennacedria]

oh thank GOD Brian didn't mess up scheduling things. the calendar says 8am for his appointment, which would put me at work an hour and a half early. the actual time is 10am, tho, which means I get a normal morning (minus my phone)

[vinthetiefling]

So I’m never seeing this band, am I.

[icanbeoriginal2]

I get to volunteeeerrr and I'm so exciteddd but I have to drive to a weird side of town probably through traffic and my first day I'mma show up super early since I don't fucking know where anything is!! I don't know why I worry about things that I know I will be fine doing!!!!

[norfkid]

when you can’t drive a car, thirty minutes by train to get from home to uni doesn’t seem too bad… but when you’re an idiot like me and you keep underestimating how much time it’ll take for you to cab to the station, take the train, cab to the flat, drop shit off, and then walk up to uni, it all adds up! and suddenly thirty minutes has turned into two hours! and you’re fucked!

[tortademaracuya]

Class today was only about english, and with the fact they spent like 20 minutes talking about trying to avoid literal translations and those that the internet may give you I thought maybe for once they won't be annoying about AI.

I was wrong.

[wavetapper]

jam has a fascinating atmosphere for a sketch show created via its use of 90s ambient as a soundtrack and the constantly changing footage speed/framerate/aspect ratio. now can you imagine if it was good

[pickastitch]

life series idea - retry life

everyone gets one life, but when they die, their killer gets a totem that would allow them to come back. if they die from the environment, it's just whoever is the closest

the totem does expire in a sessions time (so if you die in session 4 2 hrs in the totem would expire in session 5 2 hrs in) if they don't get revived in that time they will perma die

each player can be revived twice. after the third time they die, it's just a perma death. totems take up 4 inventory slots. you can’t drop the totem, but you can give it away through a command. it will always go in your top left slots of in your inventory (2x2) and will destroy the items there

when the player is killed, their 'body' is an armor stand with their player head on top so you could move it around with fishing rod/water/piston/knockback/ etc

at the start of every session, a player is randomly selected to have a totem that is able to revive anyone. this player is announced to have it to everyone else and can be taken either by killing or with a command giving it away. then everyone else will know that the other player has it

to revive someone, you have to click on their 'body' with their totem or a universal totem in your inventory. when a player is revived, they get a 5 second period of invulnerability

[six-of-ravens]

boss forgot it was a short week and was shocked when I came in gaaaaaah I should've stayed home