US EPA Publishes List of Key Polluting Countries

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has blamed six Asian countries for contributing nearly 60% of the world’s total marine litter. While praising the U.S. administration’s environmental policies, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler noted that the U.S. possess the technology and expertise to help these nations.

Meantime, studies indicate that much of the trash in Asian countries comes as import from developed countries including the U.S. Indonesia had recently rejected containers of waste from developed countries, contaminated with plastics, diapers, used electronics, and other hazardous wastes. Earlier, China had imposed strict restrictions on waste imports into the country.

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The U.S. exports one-third of its recyclables. Almost 78% of the waste exported by the U.S. ends up in countries in Asia that lack proper waste management infrastructure and techniques. The actual waste that ends up in those countries may be even more, on account of re-export of U.S. waste from countries like Canada and South Korea.