Key Highlights:
- A new report by CleanHub details that five million tonnes of plastic waste are exported annually, mainly from highly-developed countries, representing 71% of the global total.
- Despite these exports, wealthier nations are offloading their environmental responsibilities onto less developed countries, which struggle to handle the waste effectively due to lack of suitable infrastructure.
- The environmental impact is concerning, with mismanaged waste exports contributing to ocean pollution and toxic emissions from improper disposal practices.
Nick Fewings/Unsplash
Every year, around five million tonnes of used plastic are shipped internationally, with the vast majority (71%) coming from just 10 high-income countries, according to Our World in Data. While these exports are often presented as a recycling solution, a report by CleanHub reveals a more troubling truth.
Plastic waste exports are containers of plastic refuse that are shipped across the oceans for processing abroad. The plastic is sent on cargo ships that can transport hundreds of tonnes at a time, providing a way for countries to offload unmanageable waste while importing recyclable materials to produce new products.
Top 10 countries ranked by most waste exported per year:
- Germany: 688,067 tonnes
- Japan: 606,374 tonnes
- United Kingdom: 600,000 tonnes
- Netherlands: 576,702 tonnes
- United States: 431,841 tonnes
- Belgium: 391,263 tonnes
- France: 344,367 tonnes
- Italy: 205,621 tonnes
- Canada: 201,780 tonnes
- Austria: 174,976 tonnes
Collectively, these top 10 countries export more than 4.4 million tonnes of plastic waste per year, representing 71% of all plastic waste exports. Additionally, all these exporters are high-income, developed nations - with seven of them in Europe.
Despite the large export figures, many nations have reduced their plastic waste exports over the past year – notably the US by 28%, and Germany by 6%. Compared to European countries such as the UK and France, the US is shown to be better at handling its own plastic waste. Meanwhile, Japan and Canada's exports have increased by 7% and 10%, respectively. Exports from the Netherlands have shot up by 69% in the past four years.
The problem is that highly developed countries like Japan and the US are exporting their plastic waste rather than investing in proper domestic recycling or reduction strategies. Whilst this allows them to maintain a lower carbon footprint on paper and portray them as countries progressing towards net-zero goals, the environmental and ethical consequences are much more significant.
By sending the waste to other, less-economically developed nations for recycling, the burden is off-loaded.
Top 10 countries ranked by most waste imported per year:
- Netherlands: 796,234 tonnes
- Turkey: 622,781 tonnes
- Germany: 503,268 tonnes
- United States: 446,831 tonnes
- Vietnam: 378,944 tonnes
- Malaysia: 351,284 tonnes
- Belgium: 282,980 tonnes
- Austria: 245,079 tonnes
- Czechia: 203,853 tonnes
- Indonesia: 194,130 tonnes
Despite some wealthier nations like the Netherlands, US and Austria recently increasing their imports, the burden of managing this waste still falls disproportionately by majority.
Building domestic recycling infrastructure requires significant investment. Therefore, it's often cheaper and easier to offload the shipping waste to developing nations, especially when exchange rates are favourable.
This imbalance incentivises wealthier countries to prioritise short-term cost savings over long-term solutions and environmental responsibility.
As such, the so-called "solutions" are raising concerns about the total environmental impact and the capability of these nations to handle the waste effectively.
What happens to the exported plastic?
The brunt of this plastic waste trade falls on developing nations like Vietnam, Malaysia, and Turkey - most of which lack the infrastructure and resources to handle the influx of waste effectively.
According to the CleanHub report, plastic waste exports impact the environment through:
- Ocean pollution: 5% of ocean plastic pollution comes from mismanaged waste exports. This translates to roughly 635,000 tonnes of bottles, bags, plates, and other waste forms.
- Country pollution: Exported plastic waste is routinely dumped and burned illegally, causing a grim fate for the land. These practices release toxic chemical pollutants into the air and water supplies, posing a serious threat to both the surrounding environment and people living in these areas. This figure will only rise in the coming decades if better plastic disposal techniques are enforced.
- Air pollution: The transportation of plastic waste across large distances also contributes to the problem. Ships transport 11 billion tonnes per year, which produces 706 million tonnes of CO2, the five million tonnes of plastic waste itself contributes an additional 320,900 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.
What's to be done?
"Like any environmental issue, plastic pollution is a problem we can only solve if we work together," as stated by Nikki Stones, vice president of Marketing at CleanHub.
A positive step towards accountability is the European Commission's 2023 ban on plastic waste exports to countries not in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - unless a country’s government signs off on it and proves its waste process is environmentally friendly.
Ideally, this will prevent nations like Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand from receiving plastic waste. It could also discourage other developing countries from replacing them to become future dumping grounds.
Whilst this is a step in the right direction, the implementation is not set to come to fruition until mid-2026. In the meantime, OECD members can continue to export waste to Turkey, another OECD member.
"We won't overcome this challenge by simply passing on the blame. And if plastic waste exports are to continue, wealthy nations need to support developing nations — often the ones importing waste — in processing the waste effectively," Stones added.
Whilst, there must be consequences for mismanaging plastic waste exports, they should fall on the wealthier nations attempting to abdicate the responsibility through exportation means. By coming together, wealthier nations can provide the financial and strategic support that poorer countries urgently need to build robust waste management infrastructure.