EuroWire July 2019

Transatlantic cable

implications of the UN’s proposed plastic waste controls. Campaigners believe an agreement to tighten controls on trade in plastic waste is very close, so making it harder for the USA, a leading exporter, to ship unsorted plastic for disposal by emerging Asian economies. At present only around nine per cent of plastic is recycled, while global public outrage at marine pollution continues to grow, sparking demands for more recycling and better waste management. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) figures show that Germany, the USA, and Japan each exported over one billion kilograms of plastic waste last year, with an estimated 100 million tonnes of plastic in the world’s seas, and a further eight million tonnes added annually. Officials from 187 countries are considering legally binding amendments to the 30-year old Basel Convention, as yet unratified by the USA, to regulate trade in discarded plastic. “The dynamics are relatively positive because we see an overwhelming majority of countries supporting tighter control on plastic waste trade,” commented David Azoulay of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). “I have never seen an issue move so fast through the different hurdles [as] plastics. It is a combination of public pressure, and of the fact that plastic is an easy issue to picture; it is visual, compared to most other environmental problems.” Under a proposal brought by Norway, and backed by Japan and several African countries, shipments of non-hazardous mixed or plastic waste that are not ready for recycling would be added to the list of substances requiring importers’ prior consent. Any plastic on this so-called Annex 2 could not be traded between parties and non-parties to the Basel treaty. “That…would only allow the US to export plastic waste that is already sorted, cleaned and ready for recycling,” Mr Azoulay said, “which is exactly the type of waste they don’t send around because it has value.” Outside of the pact, the United States could ship plastic waste under bilateral deals, provided the equivalent of environmental standards under Basel are guaranteed. Single-use plastic items such as straws, forks and cotton buds will be banned in the European Union by 2021, following a vote by EU lawmakers in March. China stopped processing other countries’ waste in 2017, a move which, campaigners say, has led to more plastic waste being diverted to southeast Asia, especially Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. “If this [proposal] passes, it actually improves the regulation on plastic waste trade, [and] it becomes much more difficult to dump plastic waste on developing countries that cannot deal with it [or] safely manage it,” explained Eirik Lindebjerg, global plastics policy manager at the conservation group WWF, adding: “The decision should be a no-brainer and an obvious first step” to controlling waste streams from rich countries. No agreement on emissions makes for an uncertain future for car makers A Reuters report in May [David Shepardson: “Auto group tries to steer Colorado clear of California ZEV rules”] revealed that an automotive trade group is in talks with Colorado to try to convince the state not to adopt California’s zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate.

system uses AT&T or Verizon. “This is real stuff. It has to happen. It can’t not happen,” said Mr Poole, though suggesting that such complexity is akin to getting multiple technologies and companies to “dance on the head of a pin.” Mr Gedeon noted that there is, as yet, no consensus about how 5G operators should design networks to account for these types of edge computing use cases, and predicts isolated solutions. ”There is no fundamental way of rolling out the network,” he said. “I fear we will all do our siloed things.” Bill proposed to fight bias in algorithms Underscoring Washington’s growing interest in regulating Silicon Valley, US lawmakers have proposed a bill that requires technology companies to detect and remove discriminatory biases embedded in their computer models. The bill, entitled the Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2019, would grant new power to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and force companies to explore whether race, gender or other biases underpin their technology. The rules would apply to companies with annual revenues above $50 million, and to data brokers and businesses handling the data of over one million consumers. Democratic senator Ron Wyden said in a press release: “Computers are increasingly involved in the most important decisions affecting Americans’ lives – whether or not someone can buy a home, get a job or even go to jail. But instead of eliminating bias, too often these algorithms depend on biased assumptions or data that can actually reinforce discrimination against women and people of colour.” If this sounds far-fetched, the press release continued by citing examples of bias: a Reuters report that Amazon.com Inc had scrapped an automated recruiting engine it had found to be biased against women, and US charges that Facebook Inc allowed advertisers to discriminate by race in alleged violation of the Fair Housing Act. Democrat senator Cory Booker and representative Yvette Clarke joined Mr Wyden in introducing the bill, but it faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Senate. “To hold algorithms to a higher standard than human decisions implies that automated decisions are inherently less trustworthy or more dangerous than human ones, which is not the case,” said Daniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington-based non-profit that includes industry representatives on its board, adding: “This would only serve to stigmatise and discourage AI use, which could reduce its beneficial social and economic impacts.” Reporter Jeffrey Dastin wrote that, despite requests from Reuters , the Internet Association had no comment to make.

Sustainable industry

What will be the impact of UN plastics controls? And will change come sooner because we can see it?

Stephanie Nebehay, writing for Reuters on 7 th May [“US could be outlier if UN clinches plastic waste pact”] examined the possible

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July 2019