Back in July last year, China announced it would ban the import of foreign solid waste products, including plastics, paper, and textiles. The country was the world’s biggest importer of recyclable materials, which its manufacturing industry reuses.
In 2016, China imported more than 7.3 million tons of plastics. Countries in the European Union export about 40 percent of their discarded plastics to China. Meanwhile, the United States exports about one-sixth of its recyclables to China, according to an NPR report.
