Waste Management of plastic, Clean Material Cycles and Waste Trade

Plastic waste trade creates immeasurable harm to society, health and the environment. This is felt disproportionately across the world, and has been happening for decades. While those benefiting from plastic waste trade argue that it is necessary in a globalised circular economy, we believe that plastic waste trade disregards the proximity principle and evades responsibility for ensuring correct waste management of plastic and is therefore unfit for a true and safe circular economy.

The Rethink Plastic alliance is strongly involved in changing the EU rules to make sure that no plastic waste can be exported to third countries. Most of the work consists in putting pressure on EU decision-makers to revise the Waste Shipment Regulation in the most ambitious way. If proper rules are adopted to better ship plastic waste within the EU while prohibiting the exports outside of its borders, the EU will send a strong message by putting an end to unsustainable and unfair practices. By doing so, it will also make plastic pollution visible in the EU and show the need for upstream measures like prevention and reuse to be adopted.