American plastic waste fuels tofu making kitchens in Indonesia
To Make This Tofu, Start by Burning Toxic Plastic
Plastic waste from America, collected for recycling, is shipped to Indonesia. Some is burned as fuel by tofu makers, producing deadly chemicals and contaminating food.
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TROPODO, Indonesia — Black smoke billows from smokestacks towering above the village. The smell of burning plastic fills the air. Patches of black ash cover the ground. It’s another day of making tofu.
More than 30 commercial kitchens in Tropodo, a village on the eastern side of Indonesia’s main island, Java, fuel their tofu production by burning a mix of paper and plastic waste, some of it shipped from the United States after Americans dumped it in their recycling bins.
The backyard kitchens produce much of the area’s tofu, an inexpensive and high-protein food made from soy that is an important part of the local diet. But the smoke and ash produced by the burning plastic has far-reaching and toxic consequences.
Testing of eggs laid by chickens in Tropodo, a village of 5,000 people, found high levels of several hazardous chemicals including dioxin — a pollutant known to cause cancer, birth defects and Parkinson’s disease — according to a report released this week by an alliance of Indonesian and international environmental groups.
The dioxin found in Tropodo is the end product in a chain of malfeasance, carelessness and governmental neglect.
“They start the burning early in the morning and go until evening,” said Karnawi, 84, who lives near seven of the plastic-burning commercial kitchens. “It happens every day and the smoke is always in the air. For me, it’s difficult to breathe.” Like many Indonesians, Mr. Karnawi uses only one name.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/14/world/asia/indonesia-tofu-dioxin-plastic.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage
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