262 of 500 signatures

To the European Council and EU governments

This petition is run by WeMove Europe

Petition

Ban all exports of plastic waste from the EU and put in place additional protections to safeguard people’s health and the environment for intra-EU shipments and processing of plastic waste.

Why is this important?

People in Turkey are suffering from respiratory problems, severe headaches and skin conditions – all because the EU's plastic recycling system is broken. [1]

Workers in plastic recycling facilities and nearby residents live with these health impacts daily. Many workers are from the most vulnerable groups and include children, refugees and undocumented migrants - even though Turkish law prohibits children from working in such hazardous conditions. [3]

All too often, health and safety authorities like those in Turkey don’t enforce laws meant to protect people and the environment against this kind of plastic waste. [1, 2, 3] And it’s our plastic waste - waste that people like you and I put in recycling bins here in the European Union - that contributes significantly to these problems.

The EU Parliament has already called for the EU to stop dumping its plastic waste abroad. [4] And all EU countries are already signed on to an international treaty that is supposed to guarantee protection against hazardous wastes. [5]

Now, the only thing standing in the way of ending this plastic pollution is our own governments. If we could convince them to agree together, we could win a big EU-wide agreement that finally stems the tide of plastic pollution! They’re planning to decide soon – that’s why now is a crucial time for our community to show them how important stopping plastic waste is to us.

References:

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240034228
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dioxins-and-their-effects-on-human-health
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.012809.103714
https://ipen.org/sites/default/files/documents/ipen-plastic-waste-contamination-full-en.pdf, pages 7-11
In Turkey: https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/plastic-dumpsites-in-turkey-found-to-be-highly-contaminated-with-toxic-chemicals/
https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/09/21/turkey-plastic-recycling-harms-health-environment
In Indonesia: https://ipen.org/sites/default/files/documents/indonesia-egg-report-v1_9-web.pdf
In Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Ghana: https://ipen.org/sites/default/files/documents/ipen-plastic-waste-contamination-full-en.pdf
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20230113IPR66627/waste-shipments-meps-push-for-tighter-eu-rules
https://www.eea.europa.eu/help/glossary/eea-glossary/basel-convention

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262

of 500 signatures

Recent comments

Trish

we must stop our dependence on plastic and find alternative materials .

Beatrice

Poisoning up the planet with plastic is not only suicide but a crime against life. Ban these product and reuse the waste safely from now on

Anouk

Governments, it is time to act. Now.

Iva

Limit the production and piling of plastic and other types of garbage, make recycling systems much better, minimize polution and don´t dump it in other countries like it´s not your responsibility anymore!

Philippe

plastic is a poison, recycled plastic is recycled poison, production of new plastic still increase dramatically, plastic particles are everywhere on the planet and in our bodies (humans and non humans). we need a detox from plastic and find a path to stop producing new one

Gea

We should stop cleaning our space by polluting others.

Beth

Shoving this mounting problem away ... sending our plastic trash over here... and then over there ... does NOTHING to address the fact that -- although we were forewarned for YEARS -- plastic pollution is a vast and growing problem. Plastic and its toxic petro-chemicals are poisoning EVERY ecosystem on the planet. There is NOWHERE ON EARTH that plastic particles and/or their toxic leaching cannot be found. Our over-use of plastic -- and our refusal to adequately stem its rise -- is killing creatures throughout the web of life that OUR survival depends upon too. Therefore, there is no solution to this unconscionable plastic inundation that does not start with: 1) STOPPING ITS PRODUCTION 2) Using earlier packaging solutions like glass and paper that were perfectly fine until the Fools for Fossil Fuels got involved in making and pushing plastic, and 3) Developing processes that dispose of plastic in an environmentally sound manner. Quit hiding from this OTHER planet-ki

Margaret and Christopher

I am doing my best to avoid plastic bags. Why can’t we have paper bags which will disintegrate, or are these harmful also?

Carla

Arrêtez d’empoisonner le monde! Stop polluting the world!

Randi

Dumping plastic gives recycling a whole new meaning; It's definitely coming back to bite us in the ass.

Wolfgang

Your and your and my children´s earth and ressources!

Niko

Stop poisoning the world !

Kevin

disposal could be a big problem

Paola

no comments

Vesa

Stop plastic waste now!

Magdalena

I love Turkey, but I do not want to explore any poeple to suffer from european bin. Take a step! Stop it!

Philippe

Plastic wastes must be treated (recycled) where they are produced and by those who produced them. In waiting the very end of plastic waste production. Everywhere in the world, not only in Turkey.

maria

recycle plastic in Europe insted of other countries that doesn´t know how

Alicja

I have a feeling that humanity is heading towards self-destruction

Marijke

We have to stop making so much plastic waste, but if we do make it, we have to clean it ourselves.

Jeroen

Let's just clean up after ourselves.

Gudrun

It is necessary to stop poisoning the world.

Michaela

Stoppen Sie diesen Irrsinn und retten Sie unseren Planeten

George

We have to do our own bit.

Annie

Er moet gewerkt worden aan minder plastiek gebruiken voor de verpakking!

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Stop EU plastic waste from poisoning the world!