The Atacama Desert, located on the west coast of South America, is one of the driest regions on earth, which known as the world’s “dry pole”. It is known worldwide for its unique climatic conditions. The part of the Atacama Desert in Chile is plagued by garbage, and the local ecological environment has become more fragile.
Now here, instead of desert, the endless expanse is a mountain of garbage. According to a local environmentalist, the garbage is not only from local, but also from abroad, which includes scrap tires, end-of-life cars and all kinds of old clothes and shoes. Some people even reluctantly call the Atacama Desert “the backyard of the world”.
Local officials in Chile said, “We feel abandoned, and I think it was some people who threw the garbage here with no conscience, which has caused serious damage to the local environment.”
For a long time, Chile has been a treatment center of all kinds of second-hand and unsold clothes, mainly from Europe, the US and some Asian regions. Last year, more than 46,000 tons of used clothing flowed into the port of Iquique in northern Chile due to the surge in fast-fashion market consumption. A small part of these will be resold to other South American countries, while the vast majority will be dumped in the Atacama Desert, also in northern Chile.
According to the report, it takes up to 200 years for these waste clothes to be fully biodegraded. At the same time, the chemicals in the clothes would cause serious pollution to the local soil, air and water.
The management of environmental pollution is a holistic outcome that needs to be developed globally. Although each country has its own capabilities in pollution management, only global action in one direction can achieve the desired environment protection results.
The treatment of solid waste has been a continuous concern and research in various countries. For example, mixed plastic waste with complex composition and low regeneration value has been a difficult problem in the field of plastic treatment and a major factor in “white pollution”. The emergence of waste plastic pyrolysis technology has effectively complemented the traditional incineration and recycling technologies and become a cutting-edge development technology in the field of plastic recycling.
The industrial continuous waste plastics pyrolysis technology and equipment developed by Jinan Niutech Environment Technology Corporation has become a key development direction recognized by various countries because of its environmental and economic benefits; wide material adaptability to deal with complex components; low energy consumption and low cost; excellent treatment effect and good product quality; strong equipment stability and long service life. Niutech has brought a new impetus to the development of global waste plastics recycling and environment protection.
