China is forcing the world to rethink recycling

[@denyfate]

i love how this video make it sound like its china's fault, when in the beginning they said it comes from western countries 💁

[@MicahRion]

Yeah you'd have had to listen all the way to the end to hear them make that point. It's after 8:25.

[@denyfate]

@@MicahRion ya... 8 minutes of blaming china and 1 minute of saying the west is the white knight opening factories in usa isnt rly going to the root of the problem here...

[@MicahRion]

Tat Chan Yeah I don’t think it gets to the root of the problem either.

[@aerowindwalker]

It is misleading I agree

[@ejanocrowsnatcher]

in the description: China’s ban didn’t break the system, but it revealed just how broken it really is.

[@kristiankho]

When the lady said "Foreign Waste" in Mandarin.. She was using the word "洋垃圾".. Which kinda translates to "Western trash". She's not blaming China.

[@HenningDiesel]

Western trash imported by Chinese buyers and importers.

[@kristiankho]

@@HenningDiesel nomenclature is important. In this case, I'm pointing out the emphasis of the word "Western" when referring to these imported trash. Granted, everyone sucks in the recycling industry and as the video said, a better system is needed.

[@HenningDiesel]

Yes, and I'm putting emphasis on the word "Chinese" when referring to the buyers and importers. It's also kinda important.

[@vj2927]

Henning Diesel In this video, no Chinese blamed Westerners for exporting plastic waste. China just decided to stop importing the waste because of environmental concerns.

[@HenningDiesel]

"洋垃圾" They have no more reason to criticize Western exporters than criticizing Chinese importers. Also, take a look at the imbeciles in this comment section.

[@Amy-ww7vr]

He translate 洋垃圾 (literally means western trash) into trash operations. Good job in missing out the important part of the words from the victims

[@widget3672]

Interesting, do you think he knew that or maybe he was told that by someone? It is a shame that China had to make such a stand to the rest of the world, the users of plastic need to take care of their own trash, that's absolutely the case - but how hard is that job? Can we get more of these brilliant recycling machines and how do we go about containing and neutralising the whole cancer gas stuff? - these are questions the west wishes they asked China decades ago.

[@Trump.Musk.Will.Destroy.U.S]

You really think China with triple the amount of people is pure from waste? They don't ship their trash out to other countries? *WRONG!* China is doing nothing with their waste except creating more, because they want profit over a cleaner earth The best countries at recycling: Germany has the best recycling rate in the world. Austria comes in second, followed by South Korea and Wales. All four countries manage to recycle between 52% and 56% of their municipal waste. Switzerland, in fifth place, recycles almost half of its municipal waste. *Translate that!*

[@widget3672]

@@Trump.Musk.Will.Destroy.U.S To be fair, if it was disrupting for most countries then that implies that most countries were dependent on China for this service - despite what may be now, if it took this to get the west to clean up after itself (I mean 56% is great, but the other half still has to go somewhere...) and while it was initially an economic service that worked for both parties in the agreement. On the other hand, when China does the exact same thing because they decided it wasn't worth being the word's landfill, then it means we have to appreciate how much waste we do produce. I guess you could say that while the western nations have been hogging all the fun, having to suddenly share and take care is a bit of a bummer - but lets not shit all over a country that just got to OUR level. Either way, we still need to sort out our waste so until any one nation hits 100% waste reduction/recycling, I'm not sure we should point too much - we do consume more than the rest of the world combined (though China has just overtaken the US and India, they also have a population in the billions and are still developing - a country like the USA has no excuse, its got economy, technology and stability, there are rarely better times to sort out this kind of stuff.

[@Trump.Musk.Will.Destroy.U.S]

@@widget3672 The West started long before this and India before them. Documentary is not factual.

[@widget3672]

@@Trump.Musk.Will.Destroy.U.S I must wonder what it is that defines one thing or another as factual when we are all limited in the evidence we get.

[@MrBlinder514]

Seems the audience understands the origin of the problem.

[@al201103]

Yeah - a bit of faith restored as I read the comments!

[@jiguo773]

well it seems like someone at the western main stream media propaganda department is going to lose their job.

[@xdshang2836]

yeah , everybody knows

[@obuyWw]

I'm reassured really. This world would be so wrong if the audience believes all this. Those with dishonesty will be in torture of shame. 🤞🏻🤞🏻

[@dxelson]

Its amazing how people can blame china for this lmao

[@zebraimage]

It's amazing how people blame China for EVERYTHING.

[@jgodbolt94]

the last point was literally that it's the consumers' fault

[@什么样子世界]

cuz they can't solve problem, so it is easy to blame other for the problem they cause.

[@caroselloshow5615]

It’s amazing how people think that they are blaming china for this..... at the end they literally say the opposite it makes me think that you didn’t watched at all the video or that you are not capable of understanding what you see

[@CapitanoGUC-gf6el]

Because this problem is mostly createt by China.

[@clairvoyant1980]

Is this video trying to imply that China should allow plastic import again because "some southeast countries are suffering and we developed countries now have difficulty dealing with these garbage" ??

[@jgodbolt94]

not at all. the video was implying that western/american consumers should consume less plastic.

[@caroselloshow5615]

They were saying literally the opposite.... that the western world needs to consume less and recycle more. Did you even watched the video?

[@aigerimsam3523]

I think you need to watch the video again.

[@yifeihan7307]

So, China is doing what the US and the rest of the first-world-country had already done, it’s the same process as you progress. Yet instead of searching for a better solution for the human race, you’d rather spend your time and energy on the blame game...what good could this video do besides deepening the already-exist-bias against China? And what good could biases do?

[@PresidentialWinner]

Well if you watched the video till the end, you would know what is the future

[@caroselloshow5615]

Alex Mercer tell me were in this video they are blaming china?!?! In the end they literally said THE OPPOSITE. Did you even watched it?

[@maccybear8093]

"US and the rest of the first world" looooooool what a silly willy we have here. The US is broke, it's a third world country. Have a look at their homeless, drug, crime and social problems. On top of all that, they will never be able to seven service the interest on their debt. It's impossible. Same for UK and the rest of the so called "first world countries". If anything, Asia is now first world.

[@watchingitallhere]

Burning plastic smells horrible; and the smell can carry for miles. Not cool.

[@AFlyingCookieLOL]

It's that simple when you incinerate. incinerators typically employ fabric filters or dry ESps

[@chaoticlife311]

you can tell that to swedish people,

[@rhijulbec1]

We in the west seem to think we are better than other countries. We want everything to be out of sight and out of mind, with absolutely no thought to where it goes after we throw it out in recycling boxes. I'm deeply ashamed of how we behave. And I apologize for our ignorance. If we would just stop producing the waste, instead of finding ways to get rid of it, we'd be a much healthier world. But as long as there's money to be made? Nothing will change. Making the production of plastic unprofitable is the way. Take the monetary incentive away and things change. Though not always for the best admittedly. We are literally destroying the only planet we have, treating it like we can take, take, take and throw out anything we don't want. Look at what's called the "fast clothing" tragedy. Millions of tons of textiles wasted because we want cheap, cheap clothing. The sooner we humans go extinct, because we will, the better. Then our "little blue dot" can heal. Jenn in Canada 🇨🇦

[@chaoticlife311]

WELL, "we want everything to be out f sight and out of mind". That explains the lost of jobs as well. irony. Actually, the practice of reusing is a good practice. But to many people, they want style akin to fashion. Hence they buy different designs of containers for their needs. i.e water bottles. I often use a 1.5 litre bottle and use it as a water bottle where ever i go. Instead of bottles that are of colour. Its not to say living poor or no money. It is just, being efficient with resources. It is also why i find Japanese people are one of the very efficient community among other nations. Its just practice. To be frank to many consumers, we dont really care about what you use or what you wear. But, i guess that's how people think isnt it? They want others to notice them, by getting new stuff. So that they can spark a conversation.

[@ca6177]

I’m ashamed of the US and how we don’t care about waste and just consume, consume!

[@yankwong2348]

When you say 'because China' it sounds like you're blaming China for the mess.

[@LowestofheDead]

Yeah the title is really misleading.

[@4G12]

Sigh, people are already calling this a blame game when in fact all this video does is show us all that the entire recycling chain isn't working.

[@r3dp1ll]

indeed. Many type of plastic or type of plastic object are not recyclable. And when it says recycled, it's actaully mixed with new plastics.

[@denyfate]

it wont be a blame game if he truly showed whats happening in south east asia with out name dropping china every other minute?

[@lovelysalad1537]

Becoming Vincent It is better that atmleast some of if is recycled, but goverment needs to start focusing on these stuff.

[@Maelstromme]

Tat Chan Maybe they mentioned China because China did the exact thing that made people realize that what we have isn’t sustainable. They didn’t blame China for something bad, instead they presented how “The West” -as Chinese people call it- needs to find a different approach to recycling.

[@bigcatlover6762]

Just look at the title "China is FORCING……" China is not forcing anyone, it's the Western countries forcing to dump trash on the land of other countries.

[@ipnatural]

It's extremely harmful to do it here but it's okay do it China? lol

[@andyd5038]

Broad statement - not okay anywhere.

[@CuongNguyen-le5ic]

If you look at the world, the poor will become dirty, dumping ground for anything harmful. It's not just China, it's everywhere in the world. Once China become rich, China is doing the same things to poor countries as well.

[@Maya-sv1pz]

better you die then I die mentality. nobody wants to die so when one has more power they can push it away

[@captainmakai]

‘Because China’ ...you got to be kidding me.

[@HenningDiesel]

No, because Chinese importers and buyers.

[@xingwang9246]

@@HenningDiesel you sound like Chinese impoters and buyers forced westerners to sell their waste to them with a gun pointing at their heads.

[@HenningDiesel]

No, all voluntarily.

[@HenningDiesel]

Yes, if drug addicts buy drugs, it's their fault. But in this case the trade is perfectly legal and based on mutual benefit.

[@xingwang9246]

@@HenningDiesel then how can it be all buyers fault since as you said this trade was based on mutual benefits? you didntt complain or whine like a baby when you didnt have to pay much to deal with your own sh!t but when you do its all Chinas fault? you still can deal with your sh!t by your own only have to pay more for it. then pay whatever you have to pay. its called capitalism. im wondering whether you have ever received any high school level logic education? are you a boy scout or what?

[@martinostlund1879]

Man up, take responsibility, ban landfill, clean up your act. Sweden puts about 0.5% of waste into landfill, 99.5% is recycled in one way or another.

[@mister2628]

Yeah but rapes and grenade attacks, guess you can't have everything...

[@zuboy4272]

And how much Sweden contributes ? Can Sweden Defend its Land ? can Sweden maintain 50K USD GDP per capita with 300 million people ? Can Sweden innovate high end tech as fast as USA , Germany ?

[@carloslee3390]

OMG blame everything to china

[@HenningDiesel]

No, only Chinese buyers and importers.

[@caroselloshow5615]

They didn’t blame china.... they bkamed consumers ....

[@carloslee3390]

Hahaha you belive in that?

[@caroselloshow5615]

Carlos Lee emh well thats what they literally said in the end of the video so...

[@carloslee3390]

This is why i hate the most the western video , you need to say some bad things first. I watch chinese video and westener video together , i see the chinese video that they talking good things about every country like USA ,but westener video need to bad mouth a coutry first.

[@complicatedjason]

Colonial mentality at its best

[@knockhello2604]

yes

[@roccodea4934]

China bought it...

[@0ut1and3r]

exactly. Stop buying plastic. especially disposable plastics.

[@beachturkey7643]

i like kicking turtles

[@robertmiller7721]

The ironic thing is that the inhaler she opened is definitely not recycle able either and has to go get buried or burned. She might as well go toss it on the fire with the other trash. There is no escaping plastic waste.

[@yeokc8757]

But the real question is WHY IS THE HOST'S CHINESE HAVE MALAYSIAN ACCENT

[@limsanity1572]

Yeok C i was wondering the same thing. 😂😂😂

[@qxcheng]

glad I am not the only one

[@kfwfk]

i'm the host. i studied Chinese in Taiwan and pretty much have a Taiwanese accent, but maybe being in Malaysia influenced me a bit

[@limsanity1572]

Nikhil Sonnad woah that’s interesting. How long have you been in Malaysia?

[@samnikole1643]

Everyone from all over the world and every newspaper should sign a petition to ban plastic manufacturing and the use of plastic in water bottles and grocery stores. Just stop buying plastic until the world gets the picture

[@go_away510]

Ok so apparently you’re blaming China for too much of YOUR own rubbish? Ok makes sense

[@LOKUTA]

Everybody has sh*t under their carpet, plastics are nice until it gets out of control. China has done so much and it’s time for others to sacrifice. What’s wrong with that? I liked how the host speaks chinglish, not good enough to make me wow but it’s pleasing :) All decisions have their consequences, blame no one but yourself.

[@yingchen3160]

Chinglish? I kinda like his accent. He's my professor btw.

[@LOKUTA]

Ying Chen His accent is fine, he needs to improve his vocabulary though. I said chinglish because he uses Chinese and English while he speaks to the woman in the video.

[@reynardlee2235]

As a Malaysian, i dont even know this is happening! Good job Quartz for shedding some light on this!

[@Strikkyy]

Also people all over the world should start selling ONLY trashbags that say what should be in it as well, pleaseeee. We spent so much on commercializing our products, but the trashbags in our supermarkets stay empty of any information..

[@ez520]

6:06 she said since the problem of Western Trash, not the operators, why don’t you translate it right? Shame

[@charlesmichaels6648]

Plasma Converter Technology turns trash into electricity, carbon dioxide, water vapor & ash. Singapore operates this system today. Finding commercial use for ash will help make this process even more effective...

[@zr9536]

6:05 she said 'western trash' but it was not translated

[@kalinsapotato]

It's quite funny how they do that, quite selective...

[@handsomemonkeyking5299]

By this logic police should be arresting users and not dealers

[@BrandonTran]

Hi fellow humans, We really need to stop using plastics. Doing what I can over here in Texas to cut back on all plastics.

[@geinikan1kan]

China made a rational move that protects their citizens.

[@ViniSocramSaint]

Politicians: Answer is clear. Dump it somewhere else We: Recycle Politicians: It takes more money then it outputs and burns resourses We: It's good for the environment Politicians: Making money will save the environment... eventually We: Money put us in this situation! Invest on biodegradable plastic! Politicians: Takes money, can't be reused, low shelf life We: Make it better! Politicians: Takes money! Politicinas: Do you care about how your products are packed, what type of plastic your stuff is made out of and wanna give up commodities? We: No, no and no Politicians: What do you do with stuff you think is useless? We: Dump it Politicians: We have much territory but do you want to deal with piles of trash on your country? We: No Politicians: What is the cheapest way to get rid of problems? We: Run away from them Politicians: Off to the ocean and lower countries the plastic goes... u're welcome We: Save the turtles! Also we some time later: Trash is gone... meh. It's 3rd world countries' problem now. They are so dirty with all this plastic. Hey! Another cat video

[@paulzhang1992]

6:04 The translation is wrong. It's not "problem started with the trash operators". What she is saying should be translated to "problem started with the foreign trash" or "western". The meaning of 洋 generally means foreign more specific western.

[@goldenamour3730]

Colonial mentality, "it s beneficial for you to take our waste"

[@kaniela8623]

It's not because china what kind of intro is that man

[@Iown291]

now if only they'd think about how to stop poisoning the air

[@seanseow1499]

Iown291 United States should too

[@Iown291]

@@seanseow1499 You're not wrong. the whole world has a lot to do :)

[@Mike-bt3ki]

USA is still the largest polluter per Capita Lol even Australia is a higher polluter per Capita than China

[@grandgamingexhilarating]

You can't blame China. Actually the US and Europe should learn to appreciate the efforts of China in recycling plastic. The ban was actually the right step to wake up humans, especially individuals of Western nations, to care more about the environment than white supremacy.

[@Maelstromme]

The West isn’t white, it’s multicultural. You need to stop referring to Westerners as white people, because many aren’t.

[@capitanlatino3668]

in modern cities like shanghai and shenzen they have machine that automatically collect all this making it more efficient and self sustain china is leading world recycling

[@kevincui5282]

It’s NOT because of China. It’s because of the rich countries not wanting to take responsibility. If anything, those countries should be *THANKING* China for making them take responsibility!

[@PeyCheng]

MALAYSIA!!! truly asia

[@u2529]

Yeah the play on words or notion that "Because of China" for this episode is wrongfully used. If anything every country should thank China for all these years of intaking your trash. Now you gotta start wiping your own sh*t but yet you stir a notion of skewed views to the public that it's all China's fault? That's just poor journalism period! Sure there are probably illegal vendors from China who flew to neighboring countries and continued their survival by operating illegal recycling, but that's up to that country's government to enforce the law and prosecute to the full extend of their law. It's each and every country's own duty to play their part in recycling the trash they produce by their citizen and should be thanked that another country would even take your trash let alone play the blame game!

[@al8731]

Nobody: Quartz:CHINA!

[@leobarnat1]

it writes "made in USA", and you say "this is because China! ". Bro seriously!!! .... You add bigger carbon foot by transporting the recicling plastic, instead of dealing with the problem in the first place.

[@Rikiwizard]

Unsubscribing bc you guys are racist and you're increasing tensions rather than doing something beneficial or productive

[@Cavers]

Did you watch the video?

[@youngchrisyang]

At school a kid was bullied all the time until once he stood up and run away. He was later sued by the bad guys for not allowing them to express their bully wills.

[@dnashofficial]

because the consumer. it all starts at home, and the choices we make when we buy, consume, and ultimately dispose of products.

[@lizrice1975]

Stop using plastic! Reduce and reuse!

[@katragaddaalekhya4811]

What a western thing to say 'Because China'!

[@adamh3135]

This reporting must be a joke. I just can not believe how people actually blame china for not taking their waste.

[@jessicagomez1760]

It nice and all to see the people marching to change government policies and force companies to be more aware of their waste but at the end of the day, people need to be responsible for their waste too. Consumers have the power to change other and themselves. We have to buy more local foods, buy bulk, avoid fast fashion and plastic like fabrics... We have to make those changes too and not be hypocrites and join the marchs only.

[@chrisg1499]

At 6:04 she describes it as "洋垃圾的问题" (which is more like "foreign garbage problem"), and this term is often used with a very negative connotation to describe inferior Western products. I really feel like translating it as "trash operators" does an injustice to her suffering.

[@NiftyShifty1]

It’s amazing to see how many people are missing the fact that this all started because it was CHEAPER to recycle in China because containers traveling from the USA to China were empty.

[@1hjehje]

Every country should be responsible for managing and recycling their own plastic waste. I live in Canada and we use large quantities of plastic bags, water bottles, etc. It shouldn't matter if products are produced locally, such as plastic bags or water bottles, or if they are purchased from somewhere else. If you make or buy it, you own it. Here in Canada we pay a recycling fee for plastic bottles, car tires, pop cans, electronic items, etc. The government is charging a fee to cover the recycling of these items so they should be recycling them properly rather than expending more energy (burning of fossil fuels) to ship them to another country.

[@eia3244]

Maybe China’s halt on recycling imports will give way to the formation of a recycling industry here in America

[@whsung]

So the problem is China is not accepting everyone else's trash? Why not start blaming everything on them? I love this trend because it allows everyone else to avoid responsibility!

[@RyanBirk]

Is it possible for us to just stop using single use plastic?

[@PJ-si2po]

I started to recycle in mid 80's and since I saw that all the recycling from Canada is trucked ship by train To Vancouver and on a container ship goes to Malaysia and less than 9% is recycled and the rest is burned that was the end for me recycling since a few months I burn everything in a small incinerator home. It is always easier somewhere else and as long we do not see it, imagine how much fuel is used to get all that plastic the other end of the world. We should not have a single piece of plastic leave the country, everything should be process here in Canada

[@chriss.4025]

Trying to sour the friendship between China and Malaysia?

[@loismlsx]

praise china

[@anonhgj1422]

Most comments: People blaming someone or something for this problem. YOU can help, don't use plastic if it's not 100% necessary.

[@davidlee883]

Did you referred to HongKong in parallel with China?

[@凯皓]

The most important thing is the you miss some part in the MAP of China

[@aheetan6548]

Hello, these plastic wastes can be used to bury into 3 feet to 5 feet deep trenches, cascarded and terraced in the world wide vast desert arid land. The buried plastic wastes will last for 500 years under the trenches, dutifully waiting for once in the blue moon rain falls, soaking and holding up water to promote wild vegetation growth. Once the tops of the trenches appear green ie vegetation growing, trees suitable for the area climate zones must be planted massively in between the trenches. This is the most efficient and effective way to reforestation of arid desert lands..JUST HAVE A THINK...

[@ashtardpikamons4817]

This video is promoting hate against Chinese people. Just saying. Blaming them for western hypocrisy.

[@sherylli1527]

Neighbour A kept throwing garbages in front of your house, after you said ‘no’, neighbour A started throwing garbages to neighbour B, C, D, E’s houses and blaming you of not accepting all of these wastes.

[@vister6757]

It's true that even western developed countries shipped many of their plastics and junk to be recycled in Southeast Asia countries. My former environmental minister even found evidence of Australia and countries in Europe shipped all plastics and junks into our country illegally. She even asked the Australian government and others to take back those junks. Western countries talk about recycling etc. but they quietly dumped all junks to developing countries.

[@simonnuman6840]

Well done to the Philippines president for sending back western “recyclable” waste which was mainly unrecyclable, even in the video they mentioned how how there were amounts of plastic that could not be recycled. Studying in the U.K I love it when I am looked down upon for not recycling when the truth is you’d rather put your rubbish on a ship cause endless pollution of all kinds which basically makes recycling useless. All of Asia will in the future remember these insulting days.

[@wijayatan7870]

you loose .... you should look for pyrolysys can do to plastic... broo

[@sirellyn4391]

Reminder about "cancer villages" before they did that, most people in them died from starvation much faster than cancer has been killing them. In other words, what they are doing is a vast improvement to what they were before. It doesn't mean it can't get better, but it doesn't happen over night.

[@stepahead5944]

Am I the only one who doesn't see this as blaming China? It's simply noting how the change in trash policy has affected surrounding areas. It also gives light to some of the reasons why China made the ban in the first place. It doesn't matter if it's China, Thailand, Malaysia, etc. As mentioned in the video the world economy of trash and recycling is indeed broken.

[@franzpattison]

I don't understand why recycling plants are illegal. Doesn't it reduce overall waste?

[@samnikole1643]

Everyone is responsible to work on a ban of plastic . Period.

[@luxemas1282]

Consumerism isn't the root problem - it's only a symptom. There wouldn't be so much plastic to consume if we weren't producing so much plastic in the first place. Whoever controls the flow of goods and services should be held liable

[@MrClijun]

it's not the recyclers who are relocating... more precisely, it's the dumpers who choose alternative countries you can see the bias in this report

[@S3l3ct1ve]

Where do they use those pellets? Make plastic packing materials again?

[@anniechen7618]

Yes but those are recyclable plastics and not single use ones, which is why they could turn into pellets in the first place

[@Dowlphin]

One more of many examples how China, deliberately, walks in the USA's footsteps. They do not really intend to do better. They fully focused on stepping in where the USA leaves a power vacuum. They have been studying at Western universities and have thoroughly embraced disaster capitalism. They stated an intention to beat the USA at their own game. If China hadn't had their cultural devolution, maybe Daoist principles would be alive there and this folly seen for what it is. Instead, China foused on 'harmoney'. In this example, China has profited from one phase of growth, now they dump the burden on low-wage countries, like before that China was the West's low-wage country. In this way, China is crushing the hopes that people might have had when seeing the US empire lose influence, because we see how one evil is simply replaced by another. We're getting a multipolar world, yes - two great evils fighting each other, with the world as its battleground. You can also see the trend of shifting powers and reversals. You think the recycler being progressive and wise by doing recycling domestically? Well, he is taking part in the USA becoming the low-wage country that China is exploiting. Environmental standards are bad and further deteriorating there. Ideal market for China.

[@qriz5]

From watching this video as someone living in the US it is definitely good countries are banning the importation of plastic trash, no blame to be passed to anyone, china was simply the best option at the time to western countries as they wanted it to make the plastic beads but the harmful burning of the remainder was the trade off. Now everyone is forced to find a better solution to plastic consumption/recycling.

[@SosemoPower]

Consumers are NOT ultimately responsible, the industry is. Also funny how the Chinese are looking to invest in the US.

[@Omachron]

If we start treating plastic as a valuable resource, we wouldn't want to dump it in other counties wasteland. So much energy was put into turning raw materials into plastic, it only makes sense to reuse and recycle that resource! The technology is now available to turn all that trash into plastic wood, paving blocks, roofing, other building materials, the list is extremely long. We just need to be willing to roll up the sleeves and recycle all that plastic locally at source.

[@dragonfly02490]

They should have a UN resolution that countries can't export trash to another country. This way, the rich countries can't pollute the poorer countries. This is human right -- right of poor people not to breath in poison air and not to take in rich people's trash.

[@mikelaw9872]

I don't ask my neighbour to look after my rubbish, it's my duty.

[@GHoldia]

How the documentary presented the content is quite questionable....

[@youfangbing5777]

how could you blame everything on china ,shame on you

[@gorai9833]

Wow China great job

[@widget3672]

It's a shame it takes this kind of a kick to get westerners to even consider recycling their own plastics properly. Far as I'm concerned theres no point crying over spilled milk and we ought to get back to working together with all parties doing their bit.

[@nicoyou11]

You can blame China as much as you want, but the problem is the constant rising demand of plastic to sustain the Western lifestyle by buying things you don't necessarily need!

[@separeed4721]

Are you guys listening? He’s saying “Because China.. now all other countries have to figure out how to recycle their own waste” So its a positive message, listen till the end!!

[@Cynthia_Cantrell]

Did anyone else find it ironic that the American plastic recycler had to buy his recycling equipment from China? Their is plenty of opportunity to create jobs in the recycling industry here in the US if people took it more seriously - and they're not just plastic sorting jobs either. Industrial scale recycling takes machine design, chemical engineering, and of course all the transportation and logistics for getting recyclable waste in and new products out. A plastic recycling company could even pyrolyze the fuel is needs to run its delivery trucks from the materials it brings in. Not recycling these products is billions of dollars in lost opportunities.

[@stanyoung3671]

Funny that this video makes it sound like China is the one to blame, but actually we are all accountable to this. The US consumers are just so used to all the convenience they've got, free unlimited plastic bags at the supermarket, ads mails that end up in trash/recycle bins and the so-called recyclable cups at the workplace. Rarely I see people bring their own bags or use their own mugs. Even though those things are recyclable, it doesn't mean that it's completely environment friendly. It costs to manufacture them and recycle. And some of them may end up being buried instead of recycled. In New York, I think at least the state government should learn from California to charge customers for the plastic bags so that people are aware of the environmental impacts and, ya China had already did this years ago. For disclosure, I'm Chinese and I have been living in NYC for 6 years.

[@xuhuiyuanxu]

Let the Sweden girl do some help!

[@peapoo4]

What about controlling the production of garbage from the source?

[@elz2409]

LOL their recycling system sis just moving their trash to another location... I live in Germany and it's so common that supermarkets overuse plastic packaging, China is much better on waste education. And they are posing strict recycling classification rules in Shanghai, next would be other big cities like Beijing, Shenzhen and so on. It's ridiculous to see EU students blaming China and India for all CO2 emission, plastic waste etc. in class, and nobody ever wonders how the system works and how many "made in China" goods they have at home.

[@everythingmatters6308]

If all this plastic was dumped back on the doorsteps of the companies producing it then Coke, Pepsi, and Nestle, etc. would revert back to glass in a heart beat.

[@livefree1030]

New report today shows China merchant ships are now dumping plastics into the Atlantic, and they get paid to do so.

[@shabadoob]

In the past, our western counterparts blamed China and took on the position and broadcasted in the news that they were at fault for pollution and poor recycling. Now that China is doing better and implementing better recycling systems, there's not a peep about the real issue on waste management and how. The west has gotten complacent to a poor system in which they willingly accepted in the past while blaming them for environmental pollution. We need to do better and find ways to recycle because China is no longer taking that scapegoat position as they develop their country.

[@TingyuGu]

Correct me, but I don’t see strong blames on China from this video. I think it explains the story overall from a objective perspective. It mentions the high cancer rate which justifies China’s ban, at the end it also mentions all this recycling issue is because of our consuming behavior.

[@xdae]

But why are these plastic pellets so valuable?? Just read that plastic pellets or ‘nurdles’ are a major cause of ocean pollution... come on Quartz.

[@ninamartinez5596]

Thank you China! Thank you for making us see and think about our waste. How about America being okay with sending its mess away instead of actually dealing with the damn problem that we started

[@samtoo2010]

The really issue is the consumers wasting lifestyle in western countries. Governments and People from western countries needs to learn a better way to treat their wastes

[@Vkush_MidWest]

Problem is NOT China. Problem is us, we, we need to be very mindful of buying/consuming and how each purchase impacts the EARTH.

[@ahmadfakhrullah6381]

Nothing but a proof that we're all hypocrites.

[@samuellai9858]

People are not blind as western politicians. They know the truth.