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by maria2 1268 days ago
The source you provided says that exports from North America are around 751,000 tons annually, with only 300,000 tons exported outside of North America. This NYT article says exports from the U.S. alone is 48 million tons, 25 million of which go to poorer countries [0].

> Data for January showed that exports of scrap plastic from the United States edged upward, to 48 million tons from 45 million tons the previous January. Exports to poorer nations were virtually unchanged from a year ago, totaling 25 million tons.

If these larger export numbers are correct, then the estimates in the article you provided should be multiplied by a factor of 10 at least.

[0]: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/12/climate/plastics-waste-ex...