Here in the UK, 9.25 million tonnes of plastic waste leaves our dockyards and heads to developing countries. Why do we ship it off? Because the UK government wants to offload the responsibility of processing our plastic waste. However, this comes at the significant detriment of importing countries’ economies, environments, and health. For three decades, China imported over 70% of the world’s plastic waste, but that all changed in 2018. In the eight years since China banned the vast majority...

You have dutifully cleaned, dried, and separated your household plastics. When you do your weekly shop, you take your plastic bags and chuck them into the supermarket’s soft plastics recycling bin. You have done your bit. But where do your used plastics go? Despite your best efforts, your household recycling may end up in an illegal dump on the other side of the world. The UK exports 9.25 million tonnes of plastic waste every year, making it the sixth largest exporter in the world. Instead...