From Tanzania to China

In late August, to the honour of the reporting profession, a dispute erupting in Dar es Salaam, capital of Tanzania, also erupted in the news.
BBC News broadcast a video documenting how Chinese plastic waste dealers are "stealing" work (and the small income deriving from it) from the inhabitants of the district of Temeke, who have long been engaged in collecting post-consumer plastic wrap, bags and bottles for recycling. Chinese demand for plastic waste has not diminished in spite of the restrictions imposed by Beijing authorities, and yet we have news focussing on the rather irrelevant (in absolute terms) Tanzanian disputes, overlooking the huge streams of plastic waste that for years have flowed from Europe to China.