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Articles on Plastic

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Plastic waste from Australia in Port Klang, Malaysia. Malaysia says it will send back some 3,300 tons of nonrecyclable plastic waste to countries including the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia. AP Photo/Vincent Thian

As more developing countries reject plastic waste exports, wealthy nations seek solutions at home

A year after China stopped accepting most scrap material exports, other Asian countries are following Beijing’s lead, forcing wealthy nations to find domestic solutions for managing their wastes.
This biodegradable plastic bag had plenty of life left in it, even after three years. Lloyd Russell/University of Plymouth

When biodegradable plastic is not biodegradable

Biodegradable bags still strong enough to carry shopping after three years in the ground show that ‘biodegradability’ isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Migrant workers break apart blocks of pressed plastic bottles at a recycling plant in Thailand. EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL

Here’s what happens to our plastic recycling when it goes offshore

Since China stopped accepting Australia’s recyclable plastic, the majority of exported plastic waste is now going to developing nations in South East Asia.
Worth the effort? Shutterstock.

Is there any point in recycling?

There are lots of issues with recycling – but it’s still an important part of society’s efforts to live more sustainably.
Teenager Alex Weber and friends collected nearly 40,000 golf balls hit into the ocean from a handful of California golf courses. Alex Weber

A teen scientist helped me discover tons of golf balls polluting the ocean

Snorkeling off the California coast, a high school student found heaps of golf balls on the ocean floor. With a marine scientist, she showed that golf courses were producing tons of plastic pollution.

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