Oil-Backed Lobbyists Cajoling Washington To Push Plastics Across Africa - Reports

Oil-Backed Lobbyists Cajoling Washington to Push Plastics Across Africa - Reports

A Washington lobby representing oil and chemical companies is pushing the US presidential administration to expand plastic use in Africa and circumvent international rules on waste management, media reported on Monda

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st August, 2020) A Washington lobby representing oil and chemical companies is pushing the US presidential administration to expand plastic use in Africa and circumvent international rules on waste management, media reported on Monday.

According to the investigative journalism arm of Greenpeace, Unearthed, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) has sent a letter to the White House explaining that the US trade deal with Kenya could be used as a gateway to supply US-made plastics to African markets.

The ACC, which represents petrochemical giants such as Shell, Exxon and Total, has also persuaded US President Donald Trump's administration to lift rules limiting the international trade of plastic waste.

US Democratic Senator Tom Udall, who introduced legislation to limit the US' export of plastic waste to developing countries, expressed his outrage at the lobby's machinations.

"These same companies and corporations... point the finger at developing nations for the plastic waste showing up in our oceans. This double-dealing makes clear what the true source of our plastic waste crisis is: companies and corporations off-shoring their responsibilities to make billions of dollars," Udall said, as quoted by Unearthed.

The Greenpeace subsidiary went on to explain that Washington was putting a wrench in other international plans to rein in plastic waste.

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, a convention with 187 international members that does not include the United States, has been trying to stop its signatories from trading plastic waste with the US at all.

The provision envisions a prohibition on trade in plastic waste with the US from 2021 for 37 developing-country members. ACC communications with officials of the Basel Convention revealed by Unearthed show that the lobby group has been fighting heavily to halt the edict from getting passed.

The oil and chemical giants behind the lobby group, including DuPont, Dow among the aforementioned, had launched a $1 billion initiative to create a world free of plastic waste. Greenpeace had been skeptical about the intentions of the corporate polluters from the getgo.

Unearthed provided numerous examples of lobbyists and Trump-appointed environmental officials painting emerging Asian markets as primary sources of plastic waste in the world's oceans.