Waste Trade: Asia Pacific

Semia Gharbi, a Tunisian Environmental Activist, has been awarded the 2025 Goldman Prize for challenging corrupt waste trafficking schemes between Italy and Tunisia, resulting in the return of 6,000 tons of illegally exported household waste back to Italy, its country of origin, in February 2022. This momentous award was announced on April 21 in San […]

November 29, 2024 | Busan,  South Korea — As the fifth and final negotiations on the global plastics treaty continue, experts discuss how a robust Global Plastics Treaty can complement the Basel Convention’s plastic waste trade amendments, for a more comprehensive approach to tackling plastic pollution. On November 29, the Basel Action Network (BAN), the […]

Manila, Philippines— The University of Leeds in the United Kingdom published on Wednesday an article in the Nature Journal stating that more than two-thirds of the annual 57 million tons of plastic pollution comes from countries in the Global South, positioning India as a new plastic pollution hotspot along with Nigeria and Indonesia and stating […]

In 2017, China announced a stop on the import of 24 types of waste beginning 1 January 2018. This decision, coupled with the fact that under China’s Operation National Sword, the illegal smuggling of waste would also be monitored, revealed the ugly side of waste colonialism. What is Waste Trade? The practice of exporting waste […]

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 […]