The harsh restrictions that China has imposed since 2018 on the entry of waste from other countries – until then it was the main importer of this waste that, in part, was recycled there – had important effects throughout the planet, which still persist today. First, other Asian countries (such as the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam) experienced an avalanche of waste containers that also led them to close their borders and increase controls. In addition, in the main countries that generate waste, such as Spain, cases of illegal exports of waste to other nations, usually in the process of development, increased. And also the intentional fires in recycling plants that, instead of treating this waste, allegedly choose to set it on fire.
Fires in plants have increased since that closure of China, explained Lieutenant Hector Santed, of the Central Environmental Operational Unit of the Civil Guard (Ucoma). The suspicion that a good number are not exactly fortuitous flies over these fires when they occur. "Every month we find between one and two fires with indications that they are intentional," Santed said. Indications such as that they occur at night, the structure of the plant is not affected (so it can continue with its activity) or that there was no worker at the time of starting the flames, added this agent specialized in crimes related to the treatment of waste.
By setting fire to plastic waste, managers save themselves from treating this waste and quickly get rid of the problem. An Interpol report from 2020 already pointed to this phenomenon. The study cited Spain, which before the ban used to "export almost 60% of its plastic waste to China." "The current recycling centers do not have the capacity to treat all the plastic that is no longer exported," said Interpol, which noted that between 2017 and 2018 fires in landfills and treatment centers increased by 100% in Spain.
The complicated thing in many cases is to take the next step and get to prove that they are intentional in a judicial process. The Civil Guard currently has several open investigations in this regard, but Santed points out that, at the moment, there is no conviction. In its 2020 study, which was based on data from 40 countries, this difficulty was recognized in proving the intentionality of fires in plants and landfills, since these are facilities that can accidentally burn relatively easily. But the report highlighted a curious case, that of the Netherlands, where insurance companies stopped covering waste fires in outdoor storage and there was a clear decrease in fires. "This case shows that part of the increase in waste fires is almost certainly due to deliberate acts," Interpol concluded.
Illegal export
The other leg of the ban of China and other Asian countries to receive plastic waste is the increase in irregular exports. The Civil Guard has presented on Monday a balance of the operations carried out in this regard from the beginning of 2021 and until the end of 2022 and included in the so-called Plastics operation. And, in collaboration with Europol, eight people have been investigated for the alleged illegal trafficking of more than 5,700 tons of plastic waste thanks to a campaign that has included 141 inspections of companies managing this waste.
In the province of León, for example, a company was identified that would be clandestinely storing a large amount of plastic waste from other autonomous communities "in order to allegedly abandon them or set them on fire," the Civil Guard reported through a statement. On the other hand, in the Port of Barcelona 40 tons of plastic waste have been intervened and a company and its two responsible for the illegal transfer of 43,220 kilograms of plastic waste are being investigated. And another company also located in Barcelona would have transferred to France 222,682 kilograms "of material declared as plastic, when in reality it was plastic waste," added the armed institute.
In Palencia, a company has been investigated that would be engaged in the management and irregular transfer, both of plastic waste and waste electrical and electronic equipment, without having any type of authorization or control mechanism. "Another company investigated in the province of Jaén, was dedicated to extracting plastic waste from vehicles at the end of their useful life to subsequently send them illicitly, camouflaged as raw material," adds the Civil Guard. In total, that Jaén company "would have sent 900 tons to Thailand, 98 to Hong Kong, 312 to Malaysia and 2,302 to Morocco", some of the usual destinations of waste from developed countries after the closure of China to such garbage. Finally, in the province of Alicante has investigated another company "that, without having an activity license, was dedicated to the management and illegal storage of waste, including plastic waste, for subsequent illegal export".
You can follow CLIMA Y MEDIO AMBIENTE on Facebook and Twitter, or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter
