High-Income Countries are Dumping Twice As Much Plastic as Thought on Developing Nations

For a long time, wealthy countries have shipped their waste to developing nations, expecting that it would be thrown away or recycled there. A recent report from an independent group of experts has revealed new data showing that the developing world is struggling with plastic waste at levels much higher than previously thought.

UN Global Waste Trade Estimates Fail To Account For “Hidden” Plastics

Analysts at the International Pollutant Elimination Network (IPEN), a worldwide group promoting “a toxic-free future,” have revealed that United Nations data on global waste trade is lacking. It fails to account for the “hidden” plastics primarily found in textiles, contaminated paper bales, and other waste exports.

The IPEN report points to a staggering 1.8 million metric tons of plastic waste currently underestimated. Countries that contribute to this disturbing figure are mainly the European Union, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

IPEN analysts also reviewed the negative impact the waste is having on poor countries including on public health and related environmental risks.

The exporters of plastic waste continue shipping year-over-year in total disregard for the dangers of “toxic chemicals” and how they are “poisoning communities,” according to Therese Karlsson, a science and technical adviser for IPEN.

IPEN carried out the analysis with the help of an international team of researchers from the United States, Sweden, and Turkey.

The United Nations database on different product types via a “harmonized commodity description and coding system,” is the main source of global waste export data, especially from high-income countries to developing nations.

The UN database system assigns each product type a code, beginning with the letters HS. For instance, the HS 3915 – “waste, parings, and scrap” of plastics – with researchers and policymakers frequently presuming that this refers to the complete quantity of plastic exchanged worldwide.

However, IPEN’s report has ripped off the bandaid, saying that this is just but the “tip of the plastic waste iceberg,” because the HS 3915 leaves out massive quantities of plastic that are exported with other products.
For example, discarded clothing could pass as HS 5506 with no mention of the included plastic waste, considering 60 to 70% of all textiles have plastic as their main raw materials.

That’s not all, HS 6309 is another category used to describe clothing and accessories, with the UN assuming it would be recycled or reused—and is not counted as waste despite 40% of the clothes considered unsalvageable – likely to end up in a dumpsite.

Developing countries are also choking on plastic contamination in paper bales. Rich countries export huge stacks of unsorted paper. Although meant to be recycled, this category passes as plastic free in the UN database, yet it is likely to be comprised of 5 to 30% plastic. All the plastics would be removed and discarded.

If all the plastic waste generated by only these two types of products is considered, it results in a colossal spike of up to 1.8 million metric tons per annum in plastic waste sent overseas from all the regions surveyed.
The combined plastic waste consists of 1.3 million metric tons from paper bundles and 500,000 metric tons from fabrics. This is more than twice the plastics currently accounted for by the United Nations database on “waste, parings, and scrap.”

Waste Management Structures In Developing Countries Strained

IPEN’s research on plastic waste from rich countries to poor nations is just the tip of the iceberg, considering it did not include waste shipped in categories such as rubber and electronics.

According to Karlsson, it was challenging for researchers to quantify the precise contributions from other product categories including rubber and electronics due to the lack of data.

Waste management systems in developing countries are on the brink of collapse, strained by a never-ending stream of waste. Large amounts of plastic waste end up in dumps, landfills, and incinerators. Burning plastic waste remains the easiest method of discarding, unfortunately, it causes chemical reactions that pollute the air of neighboring communities.

Waste disposal sites, such as landfills and dumps, often release hazardous chemicals such as PCBs, which can lead to contamination of surrounding soil and water sources, further complicating the situation as it increases the risk of developing cancer in surrounding communities.

Research has shown that over 10,000 chemicals are used to produce plastics with a quarter of them flagged for their high toxicity levels and the possibility of building up in the environment—and people’s bodies.

IPEN Report Appeals For Greater Transparency

It is without a doubt that high-income countries do not know the extent of the harm they are causing to communities in developing nations. The report by IPEN is calling for greater transparency, especially from stakeholders of plastics and petrochemical industries regarding the chemicals used when producing their products.

Moreover, regulators must work closely with those industries to ensure the use of fewer, nontoxic chemicals. Karlsson wants the global plastic trade stopped with a total ban in addition to an enforceable limit on the quantities of plastics the world produces.

“Regardless of what way we’re handling plastic waste, we need to decrease the amount of plastics that we generate because the amount of plastic waste being produced today will never be sustainable,” Karlsson said in her statement to Grist, a nonprofit media organization.

The current state of global plastic waste production is worrying. The global cumulative production of plastic is predicted to reach 26 billion metric tons by 2050 if aggressive measures are not adopted. Most of the plastic waste is bound to end up in dumps, landfills, or incinerated.

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