What impact would a global plastics treaty have on exporting nations?

[AvaW]

I’ve been trying to understand the recent push for a global plastics treaty, but I’m honestly confused about what it would mean for countries that rely heavily on plastic exports for recycling. If some nations can no longer send their plastic waste abroad, won’t that just create bigger local disposal problems instead of solving the core issue of production?

[EvelynPR]

In our town when exports stopped we saw a big jump in local disposal costs. Sorting got more complicated and the landfill footprint grew. Trucks run more and our budget stretched to handle the waste we used to ship away.

[Brian43]

I am not sure the treaty fixes the root cause. If we shut doors on where the waste goes the pressure just moves to the next step like more sorting or better product design, but that takes time and money.

[Jeffrey83]

We did a small pilot to sort better and reduce contamination and we saw a tiny improvement but not enough to stop new waste piling up.

[Paul77]

Do you think the real problem is too much waste produced rather than where it goes and would a treaty change the balance or just push it around?