Illegal and uncontrolled waste dumps in Asian countries

Subject: Illegal and uncontrolled waste dumps in Asian countries

As China has imposed a ban on the import of various types of plastic waste, or has revoked the corresponding licences held by its importers, operators from the Union have instead started exporting such waste to other Asian countries, particularly Malaysia, Vietnam, India and Indonesia.

According to media reports, however, in those countries waste originating from EU Member States is constantly ending up at illegal and uncontrolled waste dumps and is either incinerated in the open air, releasing toxic gases harmful to health – to mention just one of the problems that this causes – or simply left lying on the ground, causing damage to plants, animals and groundwater.

The EU’s plastics strategy and higher rates of recycling were supposed to reduce the quantity of waste exported abroad. Nevertheless, the practices described above should be halted as soon as possible.

1. What scope does the Commission have for prohibiting the export of waste when third countries cannot guarantee the traceability and/or proper treatment of imported waste?

2. What can the Commission do to prevent trafficking in waste in general?

Answer given by Mr Vella on behalf of the European Commission

(4 July 2019)

EU legislation (1) only allows the export of non-hazardous waste for recycling in third countries if the facilities that receive the waste are operated in accordance with human health and environmental protection standards that are broadly equivalent to those established in the European Union.

The obligation to implement and enforce these provisions rests with the Member States. It should include the responsibility to monitor waste flows to identify and address any cases where the facilities in the country of destination might not treat exported waste in accordance with EC law.

The EU played an important role in the adoption at the May 2019 Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention of a new international regime designed to better control global trade in plastic wastes. Under these new international rules, an exporting country will have to obtain the authorisation of the importing country before the export of plastic wastes can proceed.

For the EU, the impact of the decision would even go further, as this means a ban on export to developing countries for the plastic waste in question. These new rules will apply from 2021 and cover all plastic wastes, with the exception of those which are destined for recycling and, due to their characteristics, easy to recycle. Currently, discussions are ongoing in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to see which regime will apply between OECD countries.

Finally, the EU has adopted a series of measures to strengthen its policy against waste trafficking. In particular, in 2014 EU legislation was amended to strengthen inspections on shipments of waste by Member States and many concrete actions have been carried out by inspection and enforcement agencies in the last years, with support from Europol and IMPEL (2).

⋅1∙ Article 49 of Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 on shipments of waste (OJ L 190, 12.7.2006, p. 1)

⋅2∙ IMPEL is the European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law.