Where does your plastic waste end up?

East and West are inextricably connected by their plastic trash, as wealthy nations sell their recycled plastic scrap to Asia for the simple fact it’s easier to ship it around the world than process it at home. After 25 years as the world’s salvage king, China refused to buy any recycled plastic scrap that wasn’t 99.5 percent pure–a move that upended a £150 billion global recycling industry with profound consequences on both sides of the world. In 2015, when the first global measurement of plastic waste revealed an average of 8.5 million tons flow offshore every year, China topped the list of 192 coastal countries as the largest polluter of plastics.

Source: www.nationalgeographic.co.uk