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China is no longer importing waste – 111M tons will have to go elsewhere

bloomberg.com

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Re: China is no longer importing waste – 111M tons will have to go elsewhere

#3
Long story short: China has been importing trash from many countries for the past two decades. Now they won't import it anymore, and these countries aren't prepared to dispose of the trash themselves. The 111m-ton figure is an estimate by 2030, the current amount is nowhere near that number.

Re: China is no longer importing waste – 111M tons will have to go elsewhere

#4
post #2

More like there was a huge trash problem and they don't want it anymore... how is them handing the world a problem when the root cause of the problem is unsustainable packaging and recyclables?

The title is either purposefully misleading to get views, or just to express anti-china sentiment.

Re: China is no longer importing waste – 111M tons will have to go elsewhere

#7
We need to stop making things out of plastic, where any alternative exists.

The stuff is going to be the asbestos of the 21st century. Microplastic has been vastly, vastly underrated as a problem. All my lifetime the attitude has been that plastic takes eons to degrade and pulverize, but when it does, the problem of unsightly or dangerous litter is presumably finished. Now we're seeing the opposite: plastic dust is a poison sponge that bioaccumulates and has got absolutely everywhere.

Re: China is no longer importing waste – 111M tons will have to go elsewhere

#10

We need to stop making things out of plastic, where any alternative exists. The stuff is going to be the asbestos of the 21st century. Microplastic has been vastly, vastly underrated as a problem. All my lifetime the attitude has been that plastic takes eons to degrade and pulverize, but when it does, the problem of unsightly or dangerous litter is presumably finished. Now we're seeing the opposite: plastic dust is a…

I predict it won't be long before using non-biodegradeable plastic in any packaging or short-lived product will be banned. It's outrageous that everything is packaged in material that will almost certainly not be properly recycled, and end up in landfill or the ocean.
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