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posted by martyb on Friday June 22 2018, @09:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the start-selling-Cabbage^WGarbage-Patch-Kids? dept.

Few people consider used plastic to be a valuable global commodity. Yet China has imported 106 million tons of old bags, bottles, wrappers and containers worth $57.6 billion since 1992, the first year it disclosed data. So when the country announced last year that it finally had enough of everybody else's junk, governments the world over knew they had a problem. They just didn’t know exactly how large it was. 

Now they know. By 2030, an estimated 111 million metric tons of used plastic will need to be buried or recycled somewhere else—or not manufactured at all. That's the conclusion of a new analysis of UN global trade data by University of Georgia researchers.

[...] As the industry matured and the negative effects on public health and the environment became clear, China got more selective about the materials it was willing to buy. A "Green Fence" law enacted in 2013 kept out materials mixed with food, metals or other contaminants. Exports consequently dropped off from 2012 to 2013, a trend that continued until last year, when the world's biggest buyer warned that its scrap plastic purchases would stop altogether.

[...] The world’s plastic problem has been building for decades. Since mass production began in the early 1950s, annual output has grown from about 2 million tons to 322 million produced in 2015, the authors said. Current production rates are exceeding our ability to dispose of the stuff effectively—and supply is expected only to grow. “Without bold new ideas and management strategies, current recycling rates will no longer be met, and ambitious goals and timelines for future recycling growth will be insurmountable,” they wrote.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 23 2018, @05:05AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 23 2018, @05:05AM (#697127)

    At my condo, there's a scruffy looking person who pulls bottles and cans out of the recycle bins after they are put outside, but before the truck comes. Only problem is that a lot of broken glass ends up on the ground.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 23 2018, @07:10AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 23 2018, @07:10AM (#697143)

    Many homeless people are surprisingly honorable. Get an old broom and dustpan you don't mind losing, and catch up with the scruffy dude. Point out somewhere you are going to stash the broom and pan, and say you don't care if they take the cans, so long as they clean up the mess.

    • (Score: 2) by ants_in_pants on Saturday June 23 2018, @07:36AM

      by ants_in_pants (6665) on Saturday June 23 2018, @07:36AM (#697146)

      It's true. Except for crackheads, most homeless people don't want to cause a problem for anybody.

      --
      -Love, ants_in_pants