China has changed its rules on importing waste to be recycled, which means the UK won't be able to send some grades of waste plastic there any more. How big a problem is that? It's a bit hard to tell precisely because a lot of different bodies produce a lot of different figures.
But let's start with how much plastic waste is generated in the UK. The trade organisation Plastics Europe estimated in 2014 that 3.7 million tonnes of plastic was being used per year in the UK. There are no official figures for the amount of plastic waste generated, but the anti-waste charity Wrap used the Plastics Europe figure to claim that there would have been 3.7 million tonnes of waste.
But let's start with how much plastic waste is generated in the UK. The trade organisation Plastics Europe estimated in 2014 that 3.7 million tonnes of plastic was being used per year in the UK. There are no official figures for the amount of plastic waste generated, but the anti-waste charity Wrap used the Plastics Europe figure to claim that there would have been 3.7 million tonnes of waste.
