I work as a product designer in the UK. Recently for our smaller clients we are finding the the most cost effective way to have plastic parts made (financial, time and environmental impact) is to have the injection moulding tools made and tested in china but then ship the tools to the UK and mould over here. That way we save on shipping costs for the final product and by working with a manufacturing partner who have a tool shop in the UK you can maintain tools and ensure quality moulding without having to fly out to china.<p>This works well if you are making a product in the thousands but would probably not be the right solution for tens or hundreds of thousands.<p>China is very cost effective for people time, like making a mould tool, but power and raw materials does not vary as much. A building full of machines making plastic parts has a similar cost wherever it is in the world. I think that as people become more concious of the environmental impact of the products they are buying companies will begin to move to a model where they manufacture the product much closer to the consumer and save on shipping it around the world.