After months of global outcry over the United States role in the plastic pollution crisis , companies that collect and dispose of waste are trying to clamp down on the amount of American refuse that gets dumped in poorer countries.

Waste Management Inc., the nations largest trash hauler, is no longer shipping discarded plastic to countries outside North America. This week, Greenpeace confirmed the policy change , which went into effect in August, deeming it the right call. Several other large trash companies have also said they wont export plastics.

Companies should not be exporting plastic waste for other countries to clean up our mess, John Hocevar, Greenpeace USAs oceans campaign director, said in a statement released Wednesday. The U.S. is offloading plastic onto countries with poor waste management in hopes of pushing our pollution crisis out of sight, but this only shifts the burden to others that lack the capacity to deal with it.

The move comes after months of reports that wealthy nations were shipping low-grade recyclables abroad instead of processing them at home, where operating costs are greater and there are higher standards for environmental preservation and labor practices. Earlier this year, HuffPost investigated illegal dumpsites in western Malaysia , where American trash from corporate giants like Walmart had been dumped illegally and, in some cases, burned in the open air .