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Plastic Waste Trade

A New Colonialist Means of Pollution Transfer

  • Book
  • © 2024

Overview

Editors:
  1. Sedat Gündoğdu

    1. Faculty of Fisheries, Department of Basic Sciences, Çukurova University, Adana, Türkiye

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  • Describes the historical background of the international plastic waste trade
  • Explores regulations on plastic waste trade and how they can be and are circumvented
  • Analyzes the effects of China's 2018 ban on plastic waste imports

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
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  2. The Theory, Background and the History of the Plastic Waste Trade

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Plastic Waste Colonialism: A Typology of Global Toxicity

      • Peter Stoett
      Pages 3-15

    3. What’s in a Name? Is it a Waste or a Resource?

      • Harriet Freeman
      Pages 17-53

    4. Major Six-Year Trends in Global Plastic Waste Trade

      • Jan Dell
      Pages 55-65

    5. Global and National Instruments to Stop the Export and Dumping of Plastic Wastes

      • Jim Puckett
      Pages 67-103

  3. The Illicit Activities in the Plastic Waste Trade and Its Toxic Effects

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 105-105
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    2. Plastic Waste and Criminality

      • Virginia Comolli
      Pages 107-112

    3. Toxic Contamination Caused by Plastic Waste in Countries of the Global South

      • Jindrich Petrlik, Bjorn Beeler, Yuyun Ismawati, Lee Bell
      Pages 113-128

    4. The Human Rights Impacts of Plastic Waste Exports

      • Krista Shennum
      Pages 129-140

    5. The Darker Side of Dutch Colonialism: Exporting Plastic Waste Is Plastic Pollution Trafficking

      • Helena Danton, Tony R. Walker
      Pages 141-152

  4. The Receiving Country’s Perspectives

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 153-153
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    2. Plastic Waste Trade in Indonesia and Country’s Response to Waste Trade Challenges

      • Yuyun Ismawati, Mochamad Adi Septiono, Nindhita Proboretno, Krishna Zaki
      Pages 155-189

    3. Plastic Waste Trade Issues and Environmental Contamination in Romania

      • Florin-Constantin Mihai, Simona Roxana Ulman
      Pages 191-216

    4. An Imported Problem?

      • Ezgi Ediboğlu Sakowsky, Sedat Gündoğdu
      Pages 217-246

    5. The Waste Trade as a Tool of Colonialism in Our Age: A Sociolegal Analysis for Türkiye

      • Sezai Çağlayan, Firdevs Yüzbaşi Tobaz
      Pages 247-258

    6. Exporting Pollution, Colonizing Health

      • Pui Yi Wong
      Pages 259-289

    7. On the Plastic Waste Route: Latin America Is the New Port of Destination

      • Ela Zambrano, Magdalena Donoso
      Pages 291-302

    8. A Story of Waste Colonialism: An Italian-Tunisian Case

      • Semia Gharbi, Nidal Attia
      Pages 303-310

  5. Back Matter

    Pages 311-312
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Keywords

About this book

This contributed volume takes a holistic view of the international waste trade and in doing so argues that the transfer of plastic waste from mainly Global North to primarily Global South countries constitutes a form of 21st Century colonialism. The book first describes the history of the plastic waste trade, from toxic disasters in the 1970s and 1980s through the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal in 1989 through China’s 2018 implementation of a “National Sword” policy that effectively banned importation of plastic waste. From there, the authors explore both the legal trade in plastic waste and the underground illegal trade in waste, arguing that both lead to devastating impacts on ecosystems, workers, and communities in receiving countries and highlighting how countries that receive waste are often less equipped to process it than the countries that export waste. The last section of the book presents cases from countrieson the receiving end of the plastic waste trade, highlighting inherent problems from sociological and environmental justice perspectives. 

Editors and Affiliations

  • Faculty of Fisheries, Department of Basic Sciences, Çukurova University, Adana, Türkiye

    Sedat Gündoğdu

About the editor

Dr. Sedat Gundogdu is a Researcher in the Faculty of Fisheries at Çukurova University in Adana, Turkey. He is a marine biologist, investigates plastic pollution across its entire life cycle, including plastic waste management and the environmental impacts Plastic waste management and the environmental impacts of shipping plastic waste and related illegal activities are also a key part of his research.

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