Ban all UK plastic waste exports by 2027, say cross-party MPs As reported by the Independent

As one of the world’s largest plastic exporters, campaigners have long warned that much of the plastic officially described in Britain as “recycled” is actually sent to other countries. 

According to the group of MPs, the UK creates more than 2.5 million tonnes of plastic packaging waste each year, and exports 60 per cent of it abroad. Based on previous Greenpeace estimates, this equates to roughly seven Olympic swimming pools of waste sent to other countries every day. 

Most of it is sent to Turkey, where it is dumped and burned, causing “irreversible and shocking” impacts to the environment and human health, according to “alarming” accounts heard by MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.