Nearly every country in the World EXCEPT the US agree to restrict global plastic waste

[CousinIT]

Over 180 countries -- not including the US -- agree to restrict global plastic waste trade

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/11/world/basel-convention-plastic-waste-trade-intl/index.html

(CNN)The governments of 187 countries have agreed to control the movement of plastic waste between national borders, in an effort to curb the world's plastic crisis -- but the United States was not among them.

Nations agreed to add plastic to the Basel Convention, a treaty that regulates movement of hazardous materials from one country to another, in order to combat the dangerous effects of plastic pollution around the world.

The pact was approved at the end of a two-week meeting of UN-backed conventions in Geneva, Switzerland.

But the US was not involved in the decision-making process, as it is one of just two countries that have not ratified the agreement.

The resolution means contaminated and most mixes of plastic wastes will require prior consent from receiving countries before they are traded, with the exceptions of mixes of PE, PP and PET, according to WWF.

Although it sat out of the decision, the ruling will still apply to the United States when it tries to trade plastic waste to virtually any country in the world.

The US has been sending its plastic waste to various countries around the world, including China and Malaysia, but has recently faced crackdowns in those countries as they attempt to cope with the amounts of plastic flooding through their borders.

[spanone]

1. We are the pariahs of the world

[Igel]

3. The US signed it.

The Senate advised and consented to it.

But it requires legislation for implementation, and there it apparently stalled.

Here's the 1994 official exchange about it:

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-1994-03-08/html/CREC-1994-03-08-pt1-PgE9.htm

That was over 25 years ago.

[dumbcat]

5. But, but .. the CNN story says we never ratified it.

But the US was not involved in the decision-making process, as it is one of just two countries that have not ratified the agreement.

Isn't Senate consent ratification?

[Pisces]

2. Disgusting

[DemoTex]

4. We are a profligate nation.

It does not have to be this way.

[Glimmer of Hope]

6. I am so ashamed.

[Celerity]

7. Haiti is the only other country that did not agree to it

http://www.basel.int/Countries/StatusofRatifications/PartiesSignatories/tabid/4499/Default.aspx

[Brainfodder]

8. There has to be too much $ in it for some "corporations", same reason they won't end phone scams?

/nt

[malaise]

9. I'm amazed at how well folks are adjusting here

to no plastic shopping bags. Of course there are a few delinquent shopkeepers, but by and large, it's working well. People carry their own bags, use cardboard boxes available free or buy paper bags.