U.S. bans imports of all cotton, tomato products from China’s Xinjiang region. WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration announced an import ban on all cotton and tomato products from western China’s Xinjiang region on Wednesday over allegations that they are made with forced labor from detained Uighur Muslims.

Americans recycle 34 percent of all the waste they create, according to the latest report from the Environmental Protection Agency. And while the U.S. recycling rate has been increasing over time—it was a mere 6.2 percent 50 years ago—there is more waste being created than ever.

32 percent

Germany

January 2018

The Trump administration has banned the import of certain apparel and computer parts from China, saying they are made by forced laborers from the Xinjiang region. The U.S. Tariff Act of 1930 prohibits the importation of goods produced with the help of forced labor.

The government of India has blocked 43 new Chinese mobile apps in the country, including shopping website AliExpress. Previously apps like TikTok, Bigo Live, PUBG Mobile, which were all very popular in India, were banned. Those apps were also banned under section 69A of the Information Technology Act.

It was a mutually beneficial arrangement: Chinese businesses welcomed waste plastic from overseas because it was often of a higher quality than what was available domestically, and countries like the U.S. and U.K. found that it was cheaper to send their trash abroad than to sort through it at home.

According to the EPA, of the 267.8 million tons of municipal solid waste generated by Americans in 2017, only 94.2 million tons were recycled or composted. Today #3 – #7 plastics may be collected in the U.S., but they are not typically recycled; they usually end up incinerated, buried in landfills or exported.

China used to buy 700,000 tons of plastic alone from us every year, to make into new products. Then the country stopped buying almost all our recyclables. Suddenly, our bottles, cans and newspapers had nowhere to go. The country couldn’t use our “contaminated” trash.

The decision caused widespread repercussions on a global scale. This decision in China will promote investment in domestic recycling facilities and innovation in plastics production, making these products easier to reuse. It can also inspire the public to change the current “one-time use” culture.

China, one of the world’s biggest users of plastic, has unveiled a major plan to reduce single-use plastics across the country. Non-degradable bags will be banned in major cities by the end of 2020 and in all cities and towns by 2022.

The landfill is the most popular destination for solid waste, by a wide margin. Some cities, like San Francisco and Seattle, are able to recycle more than they send to landfills, but the majority of the U.S. sends their trash to the dump.

They found that China and Indonesia are the top sources of plastic bottles, bags and other rubbish clogging up global sea lanes. Together, both nations account for more than a third of plastic detritus in global waters, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

This results in an estimated USD 80-120 billion worth of plastic material value that is lost to the economy each year. There’s no doubt that plastics pose a big problem when it causes issues such as pollution, depletion of limited fossil fuels, and the loss of economic value.

Below are some super easy ways to get started.

1. Bring your own shopping bag.
2. Stop buying bottled water.
3. Bring your own thermos to the coffee shop.
4. Choose cardboard over plastic bottles and bags.
5. Say no to straws.
6. Get the plastic off your face.
7. Skip the disposable razor.
8. Switch from disposable diapers to cloth.