this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2025
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/42447832

Malaysia emerged as a major destination for U.S. waste after China banned U.S. waste imports in 2018.

Archived version: https://archive.is/20250626132109/https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-06-26/malaysia-bans-us-plastic-waste-what-will-california-do


Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

top 37 comments
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[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 60 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Good. We need to stop producing so much plastic waste.

[–] lividweasel@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

Good. We need to stop producing so much plastic ~~waste~~.

FTFY

[–] snausagesinablanket@lemmy.world 48 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Put it on a bus and send it to a republican state.

[–] JoShmoe@ani.social 10 points 2 days ago

Send it as raw materials to fortify trumps wall

[–] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 40 points 2 days ago

They should never have started in the first place. Coming from a Malaysian.

[–] jessicablaze@lemmynsfw.com 28 points 2 days ago

Ship it back to the manufacturers

[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Dump it in the nearest red state as a thank you for pushing so hard to elect a candidate who thought tariffs had no bad consequences .

[–] slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Shoving garbage to another country, while very american, isn't really a good solution to begin with.

[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Red state are in the same country

[–] DarkSpectrum@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Plastic waste is a dilemma for the whole world. Unless its intended to become the fuel source for the next evolution of Earth's dominant global species of course.

[–] vxx@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Isnt plastic made from oil already?

[–] Ithral@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Most plastics, some are organically sources

[–] KyuubiNoKitsune@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah and fucking PLA (made from cornstarch) is marketed as "compostable" which is even worse for the environment because people feel like it gives them the free pass to toss it on the ground.

[–] Ithral@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 12 hours ago

Oh for sure, not saying that stuff is better just that it isn't oil. Composting those usually requires extreme heat which causes problems

[–] Buske@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

GOOD, STOP TAKING OUR TRASH! Make us deal with the problem and come up with a real long term solution, Tired of these short term "Solutions"

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Sigh, just send it to us in Sweden, we'll burn in cleanly and recover energy from it.

[–] Maestro@fedia.io 11 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Does that work? I don't think you can burn plastic cleanly...

[–] Infinite@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] Maestro@fedia.io 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Interesting, but it does sound like they are burning the general waste left over after splitting for recycling. I.e. not a lot of plastic.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Well they're splitting recycling, but plastic, generally speaking is not recyclable. So it's the paper and metals that are being split off, the plastic goes in with everything else.

There are some plastics that are theoretically recyclable, but even that isn't really recycling is down-cycling turning a plastic into an interior plastic that isn't recyclable at all. Or repurposing and reusing a plastic, perhaps as pillow stuffing or melting it down with other things to make road paving material.

But the life of plastic is never a cycle, it's a path that can sometimes be extended a bit.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

You can it's just expensive and requires additional fuel.

It sometimes requires "reburning" the combustion exhaust at higher temperatures. But combustion can eventually break down the majority of molecules into something safe. And then if things still need to be removed from the exhaust, you can use processes similar to the catalytic converter in your car, but again, not cheap.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You still do landfill in the US? That's so ... 20th century.

[–] slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org 3 points 2 days ago

Which is crazy, because the country itself is more like the 18th century

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Sink it in concrete blocks next to Lindberg field SanDiego international airport so they can finally expand it. But definitely don't add a trolley station anywhere near. Inconvenient transportation is why we travel. That and getting covid.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

The Middletown stop on the blue line is out of service?

[–] kemsat@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Maybe use some that AI shit to engineer some microbes that can eat plastic. Or I dunno make less plastic waste?

[–] misteloct@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

AI sure can fix this problem. "Sure, I can help with that. Here's your rhetorical web article about recycling actually being a sign of homosexuality or closeted femininty, aimed at 25 to 65 year old conservative men in your electorate, as requested. Let me know if you want any modifications".

[–] kemsat@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Lol I think they’re already using the same technology that is used by AI to do biochemistry, so I didn’t mean “ask chatGPT.”

[–] renrenPDX@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I just read about toxic tofu production in Indonesia (nearby country) that burns plastic as a primary fuel source to fry up tofu. We’re surrounded by plastics and have nowhere to put the waste.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

We may need to find an actual solution to all that plastic.

But I'm hearing innovative new ideas in that field. One researcher has proposed an interesting solution, it's called "aluminum cans" it sounds crazy, and who knows if it could possibly work at scale, but it's a neat idea.

[–] Sp00kyB00k@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Aluminium cans have a plastic lining. We used to have glass bottles. That worked.

[–] KyuubiNoKitsune@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The argument against glass is the weight. It increases CO2 emissions from the transportation.

Waxed paper and cardboard seem like good options for non liquids.

I feel like refillable bottles would be amazing for stuff that doesn't perish.

[–] Buske@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If only we had the technology to create some kind of light weight glass.

Made from petroleum? I think we tried that.

But it's a good point, I wonder how glass bottles made from gorilla glass would hold up.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Sure, but that plastic lining is a tiny amount of plastic, practically insignificant by mass.

And sure, glass works too, that's fine with me. But it's not simply better. It comes with the downsides of being heavier (requiring more energy to transport), less durable, and requiring more energy to recycle. It's a trade off.

Currently, aluminum has the highest rate of recycling of all beverage materials. So why not double down on the most successful packaging type in the history of recycling?