In 2023 alone: → The US shipped 509,159 tons of aluminum waste to India
→ UK dumped 169,766 tons on our soil
→ Belgium shipped 556 tons of plastic waste despite our 2019 ban
Why do they do this?
Simple economics: It’s CHEAPER to ship waste to developing countries than to process it domestically.
Plus, it helps them artificially inflate their recycling statistics.
What happens to this ‘recyclable’ waste? It ends up in our landfills, polluting our groundwater and being burned illegally.
Meanwhile, these same countries:
→ Hold climate summits in luxury hotels
→ Lecture developing nations about carbon emissions
→ Pose as global environmental leaders
Despite India’s 2019 ban on solid plastic waste imports, companies continue finding loopholes by reclassifying waste under different categories to bypass regulations.
India has improved its waste processing from 20% in 2016 to 78% in 2024. But we’re still treated as the world’s garbage bin.
These countries must know that sustainability isn’t shipping your problem across oceans. It’s taking responsibility for the waste YOU generate.
So the next time a Western politician lectures India about climate action, ask them:
How many tons of YOUR trash did you send to developing nations last year?
Thoughts?