Where does your recycling go? To nations with the fewest environmental controls. Where does it mostly come from? From the West. So much it breaks down their ability to cope meaning local waste now doesn't get recycled much any more either.
Now that Asia has mainly stopped accepting recycling - much of which is too contaminated before it gets out of the bale or container to recycle so gets illegally dumped or burned - even more goes to Africa instead. Except all countries that have had some part in recycling and try and stop or restrict it find they have a major problem of illegal imports and illegal processing - which is easier to stop than the containers. See for instance the Philippines vs Canada recently.
so the West is exporting what seems to inevitably become an illegal industry to every country stupid enough to join in.
If we just banned export and dumped it all in landfill again the world would be better off.
Now that Asia has mainly stopped accepting recycling - much of which is too contaminated before it gets out of the bale or container to recycle so gets illegally dumped or burned - even more goes to Africa instead. Except all countries that have had some part in recycling and try and stop or restrict it find they have a major problem of illegal imports and illegal processing - which is easier to stop than the containers. See for instance the Philippines vs Canada recently.
so the West is exporting what seems to inevitably become an illegal industry to every country stupid enough to join in.
If we just banned export and dumped it all in landfill again the world would be better off.