Recycling has long been promoted as the solution to plastic pollution. Plastic waste exports to non-OECD countries for that purpose are on the rise at over four million tonnes annually, mostly from ten high-income countries.  Malaysia has become a top destination and global exports have increased by over 30% from 2022-2023, according to UN trade data.  But how clean and safe is the recycling trade and how much plastic can actually be recycled?

Click on the link below to listen to the full documentary podcast, or listen on your own podcast app by searching ‘Plastic Recycling’s Dirty Secrets’ on the BBC.

Also click on the below links to watch the BBC TV news report and to listen back to The Climate Question, also on the BBC.