If the UK is the dustbin of Europe, China is its dustman. In 2007, the UK exported nearly 117,000 tonnes of plastic waste to mainland China & 340,000 tonnes to Hong Kong. HM Revenue & Customs puts the value of this trade at £81.1M, around a third of the value of all exported plastic products to the two locations. The Chinese government's plan to halt the import of certain plastic wastes from the beginning of March so far appears to have had little impact, if indeed it has been implemented at all. But it has raised the issue of the UK's dependence on export markets, particularly China, for disposing of packaging waste. "China has allowed the UK to reach critical mass in terms of bottle collections, & helped develop infrastructure," says Stuart Foster, senior project manager at Recoup, the plastics recycling advisory body.
