Daily: Wild Wild Waste — How the West litters the world

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

News, Government, Politics, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2022

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Just 9% of all the plastic ever produced on planet Earth has been recycled. So where does the other 91% go? Despite our demand for disposable goods, the UK is hardly a plastic mountain. From litter on the Turkish littoral, to the second-hand textiles that flood Africa’s markets and South America’s deserts, there’s a chasm between where environmental damage is created, and where its impact is most destructively felt. Istanbul-based journalist Ruth Michaelson tells Jelena Sofronijevic about how we can tackle the West’s problem with waste, without simply outsourcing the climate crisis overseas… “There is a whole global chain of underpaid labour that suffers when you put your plastic bottle in the recycling bin.” “If we were not exporting our plastic waste, we would have to think about what we are doing with it.” “There's a whack-a-mole quest to find new destinations for plastic waste.” “The countries that claim to recycle the most also export the most waste.” “Environmental responsibility should fall on individual companies, not countries.” https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast Presented and produced by Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:15.7	on planet Earth has been recycled but despite our demand for disposable goods the UK is hardly a
1:20.8	plastic mountain so where does the other 91% go? From litter on the Turkish
1:26.2	literal to the many tons of Matumba or secondhand textiles that flood Africa's markets,
1:32.1	media coverage of Western waste remains a mere
1:34.5	afterthought. Yet there's a cosmic gap between where environmental damage is
1:39.3	commissioned and created and where its impact is most destructively felt.
1:44.0	So how do we tackle the West's problem with waste
1:46.8	without simply outsourcing the climate crisis overseas?
1:50.4	To discuss all of this, I'm delighted to be joined from Istanbul by Ruth
	...

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