Don't waste, don't wanna
Garbage is inevitable. This is the only problem among all climate change and sustainability issues where human engagement cannot be ignored. Litter-free sustainability memes show this is a key concern, but how much thought goes beyond the litter that leaves our front door? Our need to find a unique enemy to blame for the climate crisis encourages the idea of separating ourselves from the effects of our own behavior. We do our part so that the subject of waste and waste disposal becomes someone else's problem.
In 2016 the UK produced 222.9 million tonnes of waste and exported around two-thirds of UK plastic waste. The UK is one of many western countries that have relied heavily on China to process their waste. Until 2018, when China refused to accept the world's waste, it forced nations to find another place to deal with it, or to address it themselves.
What the citizens of Great Britain believe they are recycling is actually being dumped in our country
"Balls of trash piled up in California, Britain, Australia and elsewhere as exporting nations scoured the world for new buyers," wrote Laura Parker in National Geographic. When looking for a new place to process its waste, Great Britain decided to export to Malaysia and loaded 105,000 tonnes of it there in 2017-18 alone. While other developing countries took this opportunity, they were quickly overwhelmed by the poor quality of the recycling waste they received and found the content illegal.
"What UK citizens believe they are sending for recycling is actually being dumped in our country," said Malaysia Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin as it began to return unwanted waste to its countries of origin. When Malaysia pursued the ban on China, it shifted responsibility for disposing of Western waste to other nations. Most of the world's landfills are also located in areas most vulnerable to climate change – Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa.
Above: With his latest Green Design project, Hamed Ouattara wants to create works of art without consuming electricity. Above: The artist was sitting on one of his works