In 2018, over 800,000 tonnes of trash from predominantly developed countries such as the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand was shipped into Malaysia to be recycled in illegal plants - who's owners simply burn or dump into landfills the trash that cannot be recycled.
The surge in trash shipments is a direct result of China's ban on importing plastic waste in early 2018 - forcing Chinese recyclers to redirect huge quantities of trash to countries in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia.
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