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Plastic Waste Trade Watch
July 2025
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Plastic Waste Trade Watch is a monthly review of information on the international trade in plastic waste. It is produced by Basel Action Network's (BAN) Plastic Waste Transparency Project, which undertakes campaigns, networking, research, and statistical analysis of the trade in plastic waste. The project also maintains the Plastic Waste Transparency Hub on the BAN website, which serves as an overall clearinghouse for news, data, campaigns, and resources.
To join or sign up new members to the Plastic Waste Trade Watch, click here.
| | Wringinanom District, East Java, Indonesia, August 2024. Workers sort through plastic waste that came in with imported paper waste. Indonesia announced a ban on plastic waste imports this year, but the ban is unlikely to address the high contamination rates of plastic within imported paper waste. Plastic can make up 30% of paper waste shipments, despite Indonesia's official limit of only 2%. The upcoming Global Plastics Treaty negotiations in Geneva offer a rare opportunity to establish global plastic production limits to effectively control the sources of new plastic waste. (Photo credit: Ecoton) | | |
Countdown to Global Plastics Treaty negotiations in Geneva
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The second “final” negotiation of the Global Plastics Treaty (GPT), which might not be the last, will be held in Geneva from 5-14 August with the goal of establishing the world’s first binding agreement on plastic. The need for such a treaty is clear, as plastic pollution devastates our environment and can cause serious human reproductive, neurodevelopmental, immune, and metabolic disorders. Nonetheless, plastic production is expected to increase by 300% by 2060.
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Despite the critical need for a treaty that caps production and addresses harmful chemicals in plastics, INC 5.1 was adjourned without any final decision due to petrostates’ delay tactics with calls for “consensus.” We can expect more of the same in Geneva, leading to the key question of whether voting might occur to break gridlock. Read the Chair’s scenario note here.
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The GPT is critically needed to address key gaps in the Basel Convention’s coverage of plastic, and both treaties can work synergistically. The Basel Convention is currently the only treaty that directly addresses plastic, but it focuses on downstream waste. Basel does not directly address the entire plastic lifecycle, such as the initial production of plastic. Basel also has serious loopholes that permit “hidden plastics” like “refuse-derived fuel” (RDF), textile waste, or plastic mixed into paper waste to escape key Basel controls such as prior informed consent (PIC). Another key issue with Basel is that it classifies plastic waste into confusing categories that are being exploited, resulting in vast amounts of plastic waste being sent to developing countries.
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One key way that the GPT could fix Basel’s gaps would be to include a requirement for PIC for all plastic waste, for all Parties.
Recycling plants continue to close in OECD countries
Yet more recycling plants are closing in OECD countries due to the high cost of maintaining and operating these facilities and low profitability. Key factors in the low profitability are reduced demand for substandard recycled plastic and a growing awareness about the environmental impacts of recycling, such as microplastic pollution and residue dumping. The pressure on recyclers is now intense, due to the comparatively low cost of virgin (unrecycled) plastic. In the US, many Californian recycling facilities are running at 50% capacity, while in Germany, another two large recycling facilities are closing their doors for good. Recyclers across the globe are echoing similar troubles, with at least thirty-three facilities closing since 2022. See BAN’s list of recycling centers that have closed since 2022 here.
This closure trend of OECD plastic recycling facilities demonstrates the fallacy of a “circular economy of plastics”. As OECD countries, particularly in the EU, continue to collect plastic waste under the banner of recycling to meet mandated circular economy targets, the shutdown of domestic recycling facilities has led to increasing volumes of waste being offloaded to developing countries. These recipient nations often lack adequate environmental and labor protections, where dumping and toxic open burning of residual waste have become the norm.
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EU, UK, and Japan are flooding Asia and Türkiye with high levels of plastic waste
Key Messages: May 2025 again brought a flood of plastic waste to Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Türkiye, and Mexico. Many of the major exporters of plastic waste have aligned themselves with the “High Ambition Coalition” (HAC), which seeks a strong treaty on plastic waste prevention. Instead of responsibly managing their own waste domestically, many of these countries are sending massive volumes to developing nations, Türkiye, or Mexico where it is only partially recycled, with residues commonly dumped or burned. We continue to call on the hypocritical HAC countries to live up to their high ambitions and cease exporting their plastic waste now. HAC countries are noted below.
2025 monthly plastic waste exports to non-OECD countries, Türkiye, and Mexico
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Japan (HAC): 35,990 tonnes/month (May)
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UK (HAC): 22,352 tonnes/month (May)
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US: 17,743 tonnes/month (May)
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EU (HAC): 102,830 tonnes/month (April)
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Germany (HAC): 28,494 tonnes/month (May)
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Spain (HAC): 19,093 tonnes/month (April)
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Netherlands (HAC): 14,924 tonnes/month (April)
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Belgium (HAC): 9,867 tonnes/month (April)
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Poland (HAC): 4,029 tonnes/month (April)
| | Check here for full 2024-year data and latest 2025 data. | | |
“The amount of plastic that we’re already producing today is entirely unmanageable [ ….] there’s no way, technically or policy wise, that we can manage it. But the companies’ objective is to produce more and miraculously somehow reduce the overall impact.”
-- David Azoulay, a senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), as quoted in an article by the Guardian.
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Southeast Asian lawmakers pledge action on human rights harms caused by plastic pollution at workshop co-organized by BAN
BAN, along with BFFP, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, and regional BFFP members, recently hosted a workshop in Malaysia for parliamentarians and civil society members from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam to address the growing crisis of transboundary plastic pollution and the dire impacts on human rights. The group issued a statement that calls for strong regional action to curb plastic pollution and to address the harm of the global plastic waste trade to ASEAN countries.
Plastic waste ban in Malaysia enters second month
The Malaysian government recently announced strict new rules on plastic imports, including a blanket ban on US-based plastic waste. Since the announcement, waste brokers claim that there are ongoing discussions with the Malaysian government and that the final scope of the ban is still up in the air. BAN calls on Malaysia to hold the line and fully enforce the Basel Convention. According to BAN's Jim Puckett, "Industry is finally waking up to the legal realities that are legal obligations. Basel non-compliance is not an option, and Basel says that there can be no trade in controlled plastics with non-Parties like the United States."
Most plastic created by Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé found to be non-recycled waste
In an unsurprising recent study, it was found that the three major beverage companies, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé, produced 138 ± 12 million metric tons (MMT) of plastic between 2000 and 2023. Of that, a projected 49-58% of the waste turned into aquatic or terrestrial pollution, with only 8-11% deemed recycled.
| | Plastic Waste Transparency Project | | | | |
