Global waste trade

The global waste trade is the system of trade that sends waste, often solid waste in the form of plastic, from its country of origin to another country for disposal. The global waste trade most often involves wealthier countries sending their waste to poor countries, where disposal of the waste is less expensive. Sometimes the waste is recycled into new materials, but often it is dumped—either legally or illegally—into landfills or on open land. The global waste trade became an important part of international trade in the 1980s and 1990s. Its prevalence and economic value increased significantly in the twenty-first century, as people around the world and especially in wealthy countries increased their production and consumption of plastics and electronic devices—all of which will eventually become solid waste. The global waste trade is an environmental justice issue in part because most of the waste in the trade travels from high-income countries to low-income countries, which often have fewer regulations to protect their citizens and environments from the impact of the imported waste. The global waste trade is a matter of public health, as pollution from the waste affects many parts of the world. It is also a matter of public health, as waste disposal causes dangerous chemicals to be released into air, water, and soil. Critics of the global waste trade have pointed out that much of the waste is created by wealthier countries, such as the United States, and many citizens of these countries do not know or care where their waste goes after they use it. Nevertheless, supporters of the trade point out that some of the countries that are known for importing waste, including the United States and Germany, are also wealthy and have adequate regulations and environmental protection.

Background

Humans have dealt with solid waste for as long as they have made tools and other useful objects. Nevertheless, the types of solid waste that humans produced changed dramatically in the twentieth century, in large part because of the advent of plastic. In the 1950s, plastic became a popular material to develop because it was lightweight and extremely durable. By the end of the twentieth century, plastic became almost ubiquitous in consumer products in both wealthy and developing countries. Yet, wealthy countries continued to produce and consume many more products that contained plastic. Plastic’s durability, which is the reason it became so popular, also makes it difficult to dispose of. Plastic takes hundreds of years to decompose and often leaches dangerous chemicals into the environment as it breaks down. Furthermore, most plastics are made from fossil fuels, which means that their production is often harmful to the environment.

The global impact of solid waste, and plastic and electronic waste specifically, is extremely widespread. The world’s oceans are filled with plastic, and in 2016 the World Economic Forum estimated that by 2050 the world’s oceans would contain more plastic than fish. The solid plastic in the oceans swirls in huge patches in the ocean that include tons of plastic waste. The plastic waste leaches harmful chemicals into the ocean and harms wildlife that confuse the plastic for food and consume it. Furthermore, plastic waste clogs drains and smaller waterways, which can cause flooding and water drainage problems. Plastic waste can also be unsightly, which can cause economic harm to regions because such blight often affects tourism and development.

Electronic waste has similar negative effects on people and the environment. Although many people view technology and technology companies as futuristic and forward-thinking, the production of electronic devices and electronic waste have serious negative effects. Toxic materials and chemicals, such as lead and flame retardants, are commonly used in electronic devices. These materials easily leach into the environment from electronic waste.

Because plastic, electronic waste, and other types of solid waste have negative effects on people’s health and the environment, experts agree that they should be recycled or disposed of in cautious ways that help protect people and the environment. Nevertheless, the global waste trade does not always ensure proper disposal of these items, and some wealthier countries use the global waste trade as a way of ridding themselves of the responsibility to deal with the hazardous materials they produce and consume.

Overview

Global waste trade usually occurs when wealthy countries export their waste to poorer countries. Often, this means that countries in the so-called global north export their waste to countries in the global south. Countries in the global north tend to be wealthier, have smaller populations, and have advanced technology. They also tend to produce and consume more than countries in the global south. As a result, these countries produce much larger amounts of waste, including toxic chemical waste, plastic waste, and electronic waste.

The global waste trade developed because of basic economics. Plastic and other solid waste must be dealt with after the product has reached the end of its usefulness or when someone disposes of it. Recycling material into new products and even dumping certain materials is often cheaper in developing countries than in wealthy countries. This is true for numerous reasons, including the fact that developing countries often have more lax regulations restricting recycling and waste disposal companies and the fact that developing countries pay workers lower wages. When wealthy countries produce waste, the governments, businesses, and other bodies that must deal with the waste often look for the cheapest method of disposal. Businesses in the developing countries will sometimes buy the waste to recycle it into new materials. Sometimes businesses will also take the waste for a fee to dispose of it. Wealthy countries then ship their waste to developing countries to be disposed of or recycled. As of the 2020s, the global waste trade was a multibillion-dollar industry.

The global waste trade developed in the 1980s and 1990s. As countries around the world, especially wealthier countries, produced more plastic products, disposing of the products eventually became necessary. Poorer countries had economic incentives to collect and recycle the waste. Numerous countries in Asia and Africa became large importers of waste. As the global waste trade grew, few regulations initially governed transport and disposal.

China was the world’s largest importer of plastic waste in the 1980s, and by 2007 waste was one of China’s largest imports. Until the 2010s, the global waste trade was seen as an economic benefit for most wealthy countries and for many developing countries that used the material to produce new goods. However, most plastics are made from fossil fuels, which means their product costs change as the price of oil changes. By the late 2010s, the price of oil was extremely low, and the businesses that were recycling plastic had difficulty making a profit from the material. It was often less expensive for companies to produce new plastic from fossil fuel than it was to recycle old plastic into new products. As a result, the global waste trade experienced a great upheaval.

By 2017, roughly 56 percent of the world’s plastic was being sent to China. However, in late 2017 China suddenly announced that it would no longer accept the world’s plastic. This was in part because recycling plastic was no longer as profitable as it once was, but another reason was that China’s own economic growth had led to an increase in domestic production of plastic and other materials. The Chinese government announced Operation National Sword, which was its plan to stop importing most types of solid waste. This announcement caused a great disruption, as waste exporters in many countries scrambled to find new destinations for their waste. Shipments of plastic to China were reduced by 99 percent and paper imports decreased by one-third in one year because of Operation National Sword. China’s actions influenced other countries to take similar actions. In 2019, after years of negotiations, the Philippines returned numerous shipping containers of waste to Canada.

As with most aspects of trade and the world economy, the global waste trade is also influenced by criminal activity. Criminal organizations have become important players in the global waste trade and waste smuggling. Criminal organizations often smuggle recyclable material, including plastic, from wealthy countries to developing countries, particularly in Southeast Asia. In the 2010s, various countries in Asia and Africa began reporting illegal dumping of plastic, electronic waste, and more. This illegal dumping is profitable for the criminal gangs, as they take the payment for disposal and pay nothing for dumping it. Plastic disposal is a serious issue in Asia. From 2021 to 2023, Malaysia received 1.4 billion kilograms of plastic waste, Vietnam 1 billion kilograms, Turkey almost 1 billion kilograms, Indonesia almost 600 million kilograms, and India almost 200 million kilograms.

Because the global waste trade poses threats and raises issues of environmental justice, individual governments and international organizations have taken steps to regulate the trade since the late 1980s. The United Nations (UN) adopted the Basel Convention in 1989, which set out regulations about the flow of toxic waste from wealthy to developing countries. The World Trade Organization (WTO) also used regulations that were supposed to protect countries receiving waste. In the 2020s, after China and other countries imposed harsh new regulations concerning accepting waste from other countries, the European Union (EU), the United States, and some other countries passed new laws and regulations that were meant to reduce the amount of solid waste they exported. For example, in 2021 the EU imposed Ecodesign Measures that required companies to make their products more easily repaired so that consumers would produce less waste. In 2021, the United States asked its Federal Trade Commission to pass regulations that would make electronic devices easier to repair and allocated additional funds for recycling efforts inside the country.

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