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Comment by benj111 | Hacker News Reader

"According to the U.N. Environment Programme, some 9 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year. According to a 2017 study from the environmental group Ocean Conservancy, more than half of that waste comes from just five countries in East and Southeast Asia — China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam."

Does anyone know how this fits in with plastic 'recycling'? These nations either were or are big importers of waste plastic.

I don't really want to separate out my waste, only for it to be dumped in the ocean somewhere else.

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Imported plastic is only 12% of China's plastic waste. It turns out consumer plastic is just to varied, too contaminated, and too low valued to reliably recycle. More info here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/11/china...

That's pre ban btw, now its virtually nil.

FTA (you linked to) "estimates that China’s waste purchases this year amount to just one percent of the eight million tons it once bought every year."

We seem to be producing 8 billion tons [1], so 9 million ending up in the ocean is sadly predictable, even assuming earnest recycling efforts.

[1]https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/plastic-produced...

More emphasis is needed on the Reduce and Reuse aspects of recycling. The ordering of the slogan is intentional: Reduce, Reuse, and only after those we should then Recycle.

How can we better minimise the amount of plastic that is thrown out in the first place?

I'd like to know this as well. The only solution I know is to buy everything at a local farmers market and make everything yourself which seems extremely impractical for most people.

How for example do I not end up with waste shampoo bottles? Its not like I can reuse them because I don't have any way to get shampoo without another bottle.

I haven't tried this but you can buy shampoo in solid bars, like bars of soap, rather than in bottles.

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