U.S. plastic waste exports by destination country 2020

The leading destination for plastic scrap exports from the United States in 2020 was Canada. During 2020, Canada imported 349 million pounds of plastic scrap, representing a quarter of the 1.37 billion pounds of plastic scrap exported by the U.S. that year. The second largest importer was Malaysia, where the U.S. shipped 263 million pounds of plastic waste. China was once the main export destination for much of the world's plastic scrap, but in 2018 it introduced a ban on the import of such materials. This meant countries such as the U.S. had to look elsewhere. Plastic scrap from developed nations is often collected as recycled waste, then shipped to developing nations who have inadequate waste management infrastructures.