NPR

China Has Refused To Recycle The West's Plastics. What Now?

So where will all those bottles and bags end up? A new study looks at what's happening.

For more than 25 years, many developed countries, including the U.S., have been sending massive amounts of plastic waste to China instead of recycling it on their own.

Some 106 million metric tons — about 45 percent — of the world's plastics set for recycling have been exported to China since reporting to the United Nations Comtrade Database began in 1992.

But in 2017, — beginning in January 2018.

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