The Ethics of Trash and Environmental Justice

Photo by art_es_anna.
The Modern Predicament
The amount of material needed to sustain the modern world is somewhat ridiculous– and what better way to understand how much substance we buy is there than looking at the trash we produce? For example, in 2005, the United States produced 246 million tons of trash.
This is an extremely large amount [...]

Beijing says “bag it up,” but you can’t use plastic

Image via China Digital Times
The Beijing government issued a ban against plastic shopping bags in an effort to reduce “white pollution” and step up its recycling efforts. The ban is effective June 1.

Shoppers: It’s BYO Bag in China
By Christopher Bodeen
Associated Press
January 10, 2008

BEIJING (AP) — Declaring war on the “white pollution” choking its cities, [...]

Trashy Taiwan

(Original photo via Uncle Mut at 34)
No, I’m not trashin’ Taiwan. I’m talking about trash in Taiwan, thanks to a recent opinion piece by Julia Ross in the Washington Post.

What I Picked Up About Trash in Taipei
By Julia Ross
December 2, 2007

When I planned for my year in Taiwan two summers ago, trash was the [...]

E-waste not, want not

After receiving much media exposure about its illegal “e-waste” problem, the Chinese government is taking steps to crackdown on markets that import electronic garbage, such as old printers and copiers, but experts say the raids won’t do much to reduce the importation of high-tech garbage, which is often extracted for raw materials or reassembled and [...]