Poor countries are recycling far more imported plastic than previously thought, but it’s not enough

Countries like Malaysia import tons of plastic waste from Europe every year, paying pennies per kilogram. This may seem strange, but Kai Li says it makes sense.

“Residents in the Netherlands pay a waste collection fee to dispose of their plastic waste. That money is used to collect, sort and clean the waste. As a result, a significant portion of the waste “Materials such as polyethylene pellets made from certain bottle and can packaging.” ”

Li studied management science and engineering in China and is currently researching the environmental impact of global trade in plastic waste at the Department of Industrial Ecology at the Leiden Institute of Environmental Sciences.

Will this trade promote a circular economy, or will it ultimately lead to more pollution? Lee, now in his fourth year of his PhD, and his colleagues have taken an interesting step toward answering this question. . Their research is published in the journal Nature Communications.

Researchers had previously assumed that countries that imported plastic recycled at the same low rate as the plastic waste they generated domestically. Waste that is not recycled is either incinerated or disposed of in a landfill.

This is bad news for the environment, as incineration releases toxic substances and much plastic from landfills ends up in the ocean. Li and his colleagues found it hard to believe that Turkey only recycles 12% of the plastic waste it imports.

Using Comtrade, a global trade data platform, Lee was able to see how much plastic 22 countries were importing and what they were paying for it. “Poor countries import the most waste, but countries like the Netherlands and Germany also import waste.” Rich countries primarily import high-quality waste to keep their sophisticated recycling facilities running. We import properly separated waste.

Once the researchers knew how much plastic each country imported and how much it paid for, they wanted to determine the cost of recycling that plastic into resalable products. They calculated as accurately as possible how much it costs to recycle each type of plastic in each country.

“These costs vary widely from country to country and from plastic type to plastic type, depending on factors such as how it is used, energy costs and labor wages,” Lee explains.

Lee and his colleagues calculated the minimum percentage of imported plastic that each country would need to recycle and sell in order to break even and make imports profitable. “This required recycling rate varies widely from country to country,” Lee said. “In Turkey it’s about 50%, but in the Netherlands it’s closer to 80%.”

On average, countries must recycle at least 63% of imported plastic. This required recycling rate is much higher than the 23% that these countries were previously thought to recycle.

The researchers assume that these minimum recycling rates are actually met. Otherwise, you won’t get any benefit from paying for raw materials. Are the results of this study good news? Lee isn’t sure.

“It is encouraging that more plastic waste is being recycled than we thought. However, much plastic waste can still be incinerated or landfilled, polluting the environment.” He is now trying to find out how much this really is.

Mr Lee’s boss, Hauke ​​Ward, added: “If there was a price tag on pollution in developing countries, those countries would recycle even more.”

Lee and colleagues investigated trade flows from 2013 to 2022. In the middle of this period, something happened that changed the plastic waste trade significantly. “That was China’s plastic ban,” Lee explained.

“Until 2018, most of the plastic waste was sent there. But most of it was dirty and unsorted waste, which was difficult to recycle. It brought little money to China. However, it has caused significant environmental damage. Therefore, in 2018, China banned all imports of plastic waste, including plastic, paper, and other solid waste. ”

Trade then moved to Southeast Asian countries such as Turkey, Malaysia, and Vietnam. However, along with this change came improvements. International agreements, such as the 2021 Basel Convention Amendment, require increased cleaning and separation of waste before it is exported.

“With this strict policy, trade in plastic waste between northern countries is expected to increase, while trade in plastic waste between northern and southern countries is expected to decrease,” Lee said. This means less distance for plastic waste to travel.

Of course, the research results won’t change the pile of plastic waste. “The most important thing is to make a global effort to reduce plastic waste. If governments restrict the production of plastic, there will be less waste,” Lee said.