Dumpsite full of residues from electronic waste processors in Klang, Malaysia. Plastic waste traders use the same brokers and modus operandi as the e-waste smugglers in Malaysia and unrecyclable plastic is a major portion part of e-waste residues. Source: Basel Action Network, 2023

California increases flood of contaminated plastic waste to Mexico while EU, UK, and Japan increase exports to Asia and Turkey 

Key Messages: California and OECD countries promoting the “circular economy of plastics” myth are the largest plastic waste exporters, proving it to be a false concept as they cannot manage their own plastic waste. 

California increased plastic waste exports to Mexico to 7.1 million kg/month (44 trucks per day) which is an all-time record high. Analysis of CalRecycle state data by Basel Action Network proved that California plastic waste exports have about 50% contamination of unrecyclable plastic trash. 

EU plastic waste exports to non-OECD countries increased 10% from March 2023 to March 2024. Total EU exports to non-OECD countries rose to 73 million kg/month in March 2024 from 66 million kg/month in March 2023. Latest EU country exports to non-OECD countries:

• Germany: 18.9 million kg/month (March 2024)
• Spain: 17.5 million kg/month including 3.9 million kg/month to Egypt (March 2024)
• Netherlands: 15.9 million kg/month (March 2024)
•  Belgium: 6.5 million kg/month (March 2024)
• Italy: 3.2 million kg/month (February 2024)

Monthly UK plastic waste exports to Turkey increased from 2023

• To Turkey: UK exported 16.9 million kg/month in April 2024 up from 13 million kg/month in March 2023.
• To non-OECD countries: UK exported 5 million kg/month in April 2024. 

Japan continues to flood Asia with plastic waste

• Japan exported 58 million kg/month in April 2024 to non-OECD countries. This is equal to 385 shipping containers of plastic waste per day.

Check here for annual summaries and the latest monthly data. Full 2023-year data has been published by government agencies. 

“[R]ecycling plants cannot help but exacerbate the environmental problem of plastic by releasing almost 13% of what they receive as micro and nano plastics which travel through the air, the wash waters and the facilities [….] Often plastic recycling plants become microplastic factories. The Basel Convention requires that waste management always be environmentally sound, but with problems like toxic chemical additives and microplastics, one wonders if this is even possible with plastic waste.”

– Sedat Gündoğdu, professor at Çukurova University, Turkey, speaking at a side event at the Basel Convention OEWG-14 on June 25, 2024. Video of the side event is available here.

Graphic Source: #BreakFreeFromPlastic

The next and supposedly final round of talks of the UN International Negotiating Committee responsible for developing an international plastics agreement will take place this year from November 25 to December 1st in Busan, South Korea, known as INC-5. The last meeting, INC-4, concluded with weak progress, mostly due to heavy industry influence seeking to take upstream plastic reductions out of the treaty and delay tactics by oil-producing countries. BAN and its allies are mounting an extraordinary fight in the lead-up to Busan for a treaty that reduces plastic production.  

This man put a GPS tracker in his recycling. Here’s where it ended up. – By CBS 8 San Diego

Massive e-Waste Seizure in Malaysia Follows Tip-Off from Global Waste Watchdog Group

After receiving detailed alerts by the Seattle-based Basel Action Network (BAN), a global watchdog group working to prevent the dumping of toxic wastes by rich industrialized countries on developing countries, the Malaysian government announced yesterday that they detained 301 of the 453 intermodal containers BAN had identified in their alerts. Of these, 106 were found to contain illegal electronic waste (e-waste). In a press conference in Klang, Malaysia, Environment Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad expressed appreciation for BAN’s collaboration and noted that another 200 containers remain to be opened and inspected. For full BAN press release click here. 

Major loopholes remain in Basel Convention, causing serious harms

At a side event at the Basel Convention OEWG-14, held in Geneva on June 25, 2024, BAN and other experts presented findings on loopholes that exist under the Basel Convention which are allowing for the continued export of plastic waste and harmful pollution. The Basel Convention’s 2021 plastic waste listings were supposed to cover all plastic waste; yet, almost half of the global plastic waste is not covered, such as synthetic textiles, rubber waste, plastic waste impregnated fuel pellets, and plastics mixed into wastepaper. Even when plastic waste is sent to a “best in class” recycling facility, these facilities cannot effectively manage the vast number of potential chemicals present in plastics, which are ultimately released as toxic pollution or put back into a product. The experts called for better enforcement and implementation, improved environmental management such as ending indiscriminate plastic dumping and burning, the issuance of model legislation and guidance by the Secretariat, the closure of loopholes, and the recognition that plastics with hazardous additives should be considered hazardous waste. A recording of the event is here.

Plastic recycling plants receiving exported waste are microplastic factories, experts say

On January 1, 2021, the Basel Convention Plastic Waste Amendments, meant to curtail and control the dumping of plastic waste in developing countries, took effect. More than three years on, we are seeing little real progress in reducing plastic waste trade or addressing unsustainable waste recycling. A side event at the upcoming Basel Convention OEWG-14, hosted by Basel Action Network (BAN) and Break Free From Plastic (BFFP), with support from the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) and Geneva Environment Network (GEN), explored the ongoing challenges and the need for more rigorous enforcement of the new rules. For the press release describing the event click here. To view the webinar click here.

U.S. litigation risks to plastic industry heat up

Nonprofits and state and local officials are increasingly turning to litigation as a tool to fight plastic pollution. Since 2015, about 60 lawsuits have been filed by various advocates, but recently the New York, Minnesota, and Connecticut state attorneys general escalated this trend with their own lawsuits. While US plastics cases have encompassed a broad range of legal arguments, the doctrines that appear to have the most promise are nuisance, product liability, and consumer protection. Meanwhile, the California Attorney General is wrapping up an investigation into Exxon Mobile, the American Chemistry Council, and the Plastics Industry Association into the deception that plastics are recyclable even though very little is actually recycled, and a decision will be made this summer on whether California will file a lawsuit. In addition to action by state attorneys general, the City of Baltimore in Maryland this month sued PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Frito Lay, and plastic manufacturing companies over environmental harms. A report just released by the Center for International Environmental Law provides a strong playbook for cities and states to initiate their own litigation. Details on U.S. plastics lawsuits to date are available on The New York University School of Law’s Plastics Litigation Tracker.

New research on microplastics

A range of recent alarming studies on microplastics have been making headlines:

• A study of microplastic exposure in 109 countries found that Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam have the highest microplastic ingestion, while China and Mongolia have the highest inhalation amounts of microplastics.
• A number of studies are finding that male reproductive systems and fertility are being seriously impacted by microplastics.
• Although some marine microbes can digest plastic, new research suggests that they are not present in the environment at the scale needed to digest the amount of pollution present.

Illegal plastic waste still ending up in Malaysia

According to the nonprofit Sahabat Alam Malaysia, as reported in The Star, illegal plastic imports continue to occur in Malaysia through the use of false documentation. This follows this month’s discovery of illegal e-waste noted above, and last month’s discovery of illegal e-waste and plastics imports in Westport. According to the Kuala Langat Environmental Action Group, as reported in The Star, illegal plastic dumps continue to be uncovered.   

Selling a Mirage – Lisa Song, ProPublica

Contamination Levels

The Basel Convention's 2019 Plastic Waste Amendments utilize the term "almost free from contamination" as one criterion for whether the plastic waste shipment will be uncontrolled. This term has not been given an international quantitative value, leaving the Parties to define it on a national basis. Here are the known levels adopted by certain countries to date. If readers know of other country interpretations, please let us know.

-- Making Plastic Polluters Pay: How Cities and States Can Recoup the Rising Costs of Plastic Pollution – Report by Center for International Environmental Law

-- The Plastic Recycling Deception: Why Action on Plastic Production is Imperative –Report by Planet Tracker

-- Plastics Substitution: Current Initiatives and Potential Options for the Pacific – Report by UNDP

-- The Global Apparel Industry is a Significant yet Overlooked Source of Plastic Leakage – Report by Anna Kounina, Jesse Daystar, Sophie Chalumeau, Jon Devine, Roland Geyer, Steven T. Pires, Shreya Uday Sonar, Richard A. Venditti, and Julien Boucher 

-- Environmental Crimes Between the EU and Southeast Asia: A Review of the Trends, Obstacles and Solutions for Effective Action – Report by Lorenzo Colantoni and Alessio Sangriorgio

-- Microplastic Human Dietary Uptake from 1990 to 2018 Grew across 109 Major Developing and Industrialized Countries but Can Be Halved by Plastic Debris Removal  – Study by Xiang Zhao and Fengqi You. 

-- Uncoupled: investigating the lack of correlation between the transcription of putative plastic-degrading genes in the global ocean microbiome and marine plastic pollution – Study by Victor Gambarini, Cornelis J. Drost, Joanne M. Kingsbury, Louise Weaver, Olga Pantos, Kim M. Handley, and Gavin Lear 

-- Microplastic presence in dog and human testis and its potential association with sperm count and weights of testis and epididymis – Study by Chelin Jamie Hu, Marcus A Garcia, Alexander Nihart, Rui Liu, Lei Yin, Natalie Adolphi, Daniel F Gallego, Huining Kang, Matthew J Campen, and Xiaozhong Yu

-- Greenwashing 2.0: Debunking Recycling Myths – People often ask what really happens to their plastic recycling. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter where your discarded plastic is collected, whether at the end of your driveway, at your local recycling center, or in a municipal recycling bin: Most plastic items collected as recycling are not actually “recycled.”