China Just Handed the World a 111-Million-Ton Trash Problem

The world’s biggest waste importer is no longer buying.

So where’s all that trash going to go?

• Eric Roston
• Bloomberg

Few people consider used plastic to be a valuable global commodity.

Yet China has imported 106 million tons of old bags, bottles, wrappers and containers worth $57.6 billion since 1992, the first year it disclosed data.

So when the country announced last year that it finally had enough of everybody else’s junk, governments the world over knew they had a problem.

They just didn’t know exactly how large it was.

Now they know. By 2030, an…

• China Just Handed…