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186 countries take action to fight plastic waste

22 May 2019

We have frequently reported about the environmental, social and health impacts of plastic waste. Now, governments globally have acknowledged this issue and pledged to tackle it together. On 10 May, in a landmark unison decision 186 countries have agreed to put restrictions on the export of plastic waste.

An amendment to the global framework governing the movement of hazardous chemicals was adopted at the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention, in Geneva, Switzerland. The Convention places trade controls on hazardous wastes and regulates its disposal. This decision means that countries seeking to export plastic waste need prior consent from countries they are sending their waste to.

This will stem the flow of plastic waste into poor nations. Currently countries can send lower quality plastic waste across the ocean without obtaining the receiving countries government’s consent.  The export of plastic waste to these countries is a major problem for marine litter, since they lack the facilities to manage the amounts of waste imported. Much of the plastic that is dumped or landfilled eventually ends up in the ocean.

There have been NGO reports of US origin plastic trash spilled across villages in Indonesia, Thailand, and Maylasia. Even though the US is not part of the Covention it will no longer be able to export waste without consent from the countries that are part of it.

Supporters credit this successful development to raising awareness among the general public and political leaders, not least because of the relentless reporting of trash filled animals and nano-plastics found even inside humans.

In UrbanWINS, the city of Cremona took on the issue of plastic waste in agriculture, where it is at risk of remaining in the environment and not being properly discarded and recycled. Read more about this pilot action on the project website.