environmentUpdated: Aug 29, 2020 11:03 ISTCriminal networks are exploiting legitimate pollution management businesses to enrich themselves, an Interpol report has warned citing increased illegal shipments of plastic waste particularly since January 2018 when China implemented new import restrictions on 24 types of solid waste including plastic. China earlier alone imported a cumulative 45% of the world’s plastic waste between 1992 and 2018, making the global plastic waste market heavily dependent on the access to the Chinese recycling sector. It cited a link between crime networks and legitimate pollution management businesses and added they are used as a cover for illegal operations. The study said that plastic waste containers have been piling up in South-East Asian ports and sometimes it is re-exported illegally to neighbouring areas. This domino effect in the South East Asian region has created strong fluctuations and uncertainties in the plastic waste market, it said.

Source: Hindustan Times August 29, 2020 05:34 UTC