McDermid, Charles. “Dozens of Companies Launch US$1 Billion Bid to End Plastic Pollution in Asia but Environmentalists Dismiss It as ‘Greenwashing’ Stunt.” Break Free From Plastic, Break Free From Plastic, 13 Feb. 2019, www.breakfreefromplastic.org/2019/02/13/companies-bid-end-plastic-pollution-asia-greenwashing-stunt/.

 

In the article “Dozens of companies launch US$1 billion bid to end plastic pollution in Asia but environmentalists dismiss it as ‘greenwashing’ stunt” by Charles McDermid,  talks about the plastic crisis facing Southeast Asia and the companies who say they want to help, but seem to have vested interest.  In January 2018,  China banned importing recycling because they had too much waste to deal with already. This has led to several other Southeast Asian countries to step up to replace China. In fact, Thailand’s imports of recycling materials from other countries rose by 2000% just within the first 6 months of the Chinese decree. Many of these countries don’t have proper systems to deal with the trash and only 9 percent is recycled, 12 percent is burned, and a whooping 80 percent ends up in landfill or the ocean. Between  Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and China they generate nearly 60 % of the plastic waste in the ocean. This is not due to them being the greatest producers of trash, but the countries who deal with the waste that other more developed countries don’t want to deal with. 90% of the plastic that ends up in Southeast Asia is from high income countries. Now a group of 30+ companies including Chevron, Dow, Formosa Plastics, Mitsubishi Chemical, Procter & Gamble, Sumitomo Chemical, and Shell all are creating an “Alliance to End Plastic Waste”(AEPW). They plan to dedicate 1 billion dollars over the next five years to better plastic recycling practices in SE Asia. Many think that this is just a publicity stunt to “greenwash” these companies, many of which are companies that rely on the plastic industry for a large chunk of their profits. They think that by supposedly bettering the practices in these countries they won’t have to give up their plastic habits.

 

I think that these companies definitely have vested interest and this alliance does not come from a place of real concern. It comes from a fear they have that as we see plastic pollution get worse and worse, as we are now, we will want to quit buying from them, thus losing a large chunk of their profits. Many of these companies are related to the oil industry which would be heavily influenced if plastic was to be phased out. I also think that they are trying to make it seem like they care about these issues in order to make their companies look better. In reality, they are the ones causing the issues in the first place. Another issue the article brings up is that this maybe an effort to draw attention to the fact that this is happening in Asia. This makes it seem like an Asian problem, and not something we need to deal with. Many Americans could easily be mislead by reading the statistic saying 60% of the waste in the ocean is from SE Asia, when really the trash isn’t from there, we only shipped it there. Although I applaud these companies effort, even though it may be half hearted, I think that we need to address the real issues with plastic consumption here in the US and other developed nations.