Refuse-derived fuel, or RDF, is essentially what the name sounds like: fuel made up of discarded materials, including agricultural waste and plastic trash. Every year, potentially large amounts of plastic waste are traded between rich countries to poorer ones in the form of this fuel, despite international waste laws that prevent the trade of hazardous waste.
Host Anthony Brooks speaks to Joseph Winters, staff writer with our editorial partners at Grist, about how RDF is slipping through a loophole in an international agreement designed to regulate the transboundary movement of hazardous waste.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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