Waste Trade: Asia Pacific

This blog encapsulates a conversation with Ms. Xuan Quach, the Country Director of Pacific Environment Vietnam, the organisation that commissioned the thought-provoking documentary, "The Direction for Imported Plastic Waste (in Vietnamese, with English subtitles)."

It delves into the intricate layers of Vietnam's burgeoning plastic production and its consequential reliance on imported plastic waste. Through this exchange, we aim to shed light on the complexities of the plastic waste trade and ignite meaningful discourse on the imperative for change, not just in Vietnam but in other waste-recipient countries in Southeast Asia as well.

Waste trade is often referred to as ‘waste colonialism’ due to the unequal and exploitative dynamics involved in the global movement of waste. The term highlights the power imbalance between economically developed countries of the Global North, typically the exporters of waste, and the less affluent nations that serve as recipients. Plastic waste shipments from […]

Today, the #BreakFreeFromPlastic movement, Rethink Plastic alliance, Environmental Investigation Agency, Eko, and WeMove have published the results of their joint petition urging the European Union to ban plastic waste exports to both non-OECD and OECD countries. Over 180,000 individuals have lent their voices to support this call for an EU plastic waste export ban, to […]

Plastic waste exports can have catastrophic impacts on the environment and human rights, especially the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Plastic waste ends up polluting water, contaminating air, and harming the health of people already facing poverty and marginalization. This is a terrible environmental injustice!” ~ Dr David R. Boyd, UN Special […]

Globally, the enforcement of the Basel Convention Plastic Waste Amendments has been unclear, as members of Break Free From Plastic have highlighted in a panel presentation at the last Basel Convention meeting. Similar questions surround Japan’s plastic waste exports, including whether the country has transposed the Basel Convention rules into local laws, and how it […]

On July 27, 2022, independent freelance journalists Vedat Örüç and Elif Kurttaş, were attacked while visiting an industrial area with dozens of recycling facilities in Adana, Türkiye. According to a post on Twitter by Vedat Örüç, the journalists entered a plastic recycling facility with permission from a facility’s employee. They were working on a story, interviewing […]

In our last Waste Trade Bites, we highlighted how OECD countries* continue to send plastic waste to non-OECD countries. This means that richer countries are sending their waste to poorer countries. This month, we look into the waste trade between the second richest region in the world (EU-UK) and one recipient country – Vietnam. While […]

Last week, Basel Action Network (BAN) released the March 2022 edition of their excellent Plastic Waste Trade Watch newsletter which shows how OECD countries continue to send plastic waste to non-OECD countries. Australia exported 108,603 tonnes of plastic waste in 2021, while thousands of tonnes of plastic waste were shipped from the UK, US, and […]

Background Despite so much news about climate change, the role of plastic pollution in exacerbating the issue is often neglected. Here’s a lesser-known fact: 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels. Throughout their lifecycle, from (fuel) extraction to production to disposal via landfills, incineration, recycling, or simply being dumped, plastics exacerbate climate change by […]

4 October 2020, Quezon City.  “Goodbye garbage from South Korea.” The EcoWaste Coalition and other environmental health and justice groups expressed jubilation with the final re-shipment of the remaining containers of illegal trash imports from South Korea amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As confirmed by the Bureau of Customs (BOC-Region 10) with the EcoWaste Coalition last […]