[dsfyu404ed]

> Most of the plastic trash in the US is also just shipped to other countries with more lax laws so they just either burn it or dump it.

Because people in the first world won't stand for modern incineration plants. The NIMBYs who would personally be negatively affected spread FUD about a .00001% increased chance of getting cancer or some crap like that.

Burning trash in general is a damn good way to get rid of it. You're left with ash which takes up a fraction of the space and is much easier to contain than the original trash product. Sure, it emits some nasty stuff but when you run an incinerator in the first world you can scrub that out of the exhaust. When you ship that stuff to the 3rd world you lose oversight of what happens to it.