When I did my recent episode characterizing the true nature of the problem of plastic in

the ocean, one of the basic conclusions was that there's very little the United States

can do about it since most of that plastic comes from China.

But not so fast, said many of you, that Chinese plastic is actually American plastic, that

we get rid of by shipping it to them.

Because ocean plastics are still ultimately an American problem.

So today we're going to answer that half of the question and see how much truth there

might be to this very popular belief.

And that is coming right up on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid, I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

China imported recyclables and ocean plastics.

Plastics in our oceans is an emotional issue.

The site of injured marine life and devastated reefs drives us to act out of passion to address

a problem that seems all too simple.

The irresponsible dumping of plastic trash that ultimately flows into the ocean.

Yet the gulf between what the data shows and what people think they know can often lead

to responses that are poorly optimized.

Today we're going to continue our discussion about how plastic trash gets into our oceans

and what we should be doing about it.

This time focusing on the specific issue of China and the purchase of recyclable plastic

from overseas.

This is a rare episode that's a follow up to another recent episode.

...