Myth - Plastic is Exported to China and Dumped in a Landfill

Plastic and other material does go to China and other countries, but it’s not just dumped there – people are buying it to use!

Exports of waste material is big business.

Plastics for recycling are regularly bought in the UK and elsewhere for export to China. A tonnes of plastic bottles for recycling can fetch around £200 so it would make no economic sense to ship it half the way round the world to then simply dump it.

In 2001, 66,813 tonnes of plastic were exported. This rose to 237,753 tonnes in 2005. Over half of the UK’s plastics recycling is done via export.

Why is recyclable waste going abroad?

China in particular has fast-growing manufacturing sectors – and ‘secondary resources’ like recyclable paper and plastics are in high demand there.

• In 2004, 173,947 tonnes of plastic packaging were exported, the majority to Hong Kong and China, and 170,370 tonnes were reprocessed in the UK.
• China is now a major manufacturer of plastic items. Therefore, if we want recycled plastics to be used again, it is inevitable that at least a proportion of our waste plastics will be exported to China to be reused.
• Don’t forget, the UK has a huge economy and rate of consumption for its size, and we’re still very much in the early stages of our plans for recycling.
  

There is currently a trade imbalance between the UK and China and so we import much more than we export.

Isn’t it a waste of energy to ship recyclable material abroad?

The ships that bring these imports from China would go back empty if they were not used to take secondary materials back to China..

So, all recyclable materials that are exported to countries like India and China are shipped from the UK on otherwise empty container ships.

How can you be sure it’s all above board?

The trade is robustly regulated by the Environment Agency.