UK Condemned for its Failure to Prevent Exports of Plastic Waste

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Seattle, Washington-based non-governmental organization Basel Action Network (BAN) condemned the UK for continuing with illegal exports of some plastic scrap, despite the implementation of the EU ban on export of mixed and contaminated plastic waste into developing countries.

According to Jim Puckett, Director, BAN, the country has not taken necessary action to implement the plastic waste export ban into law. Also, the existing control procedures for scrap exports from the country is found to be having several loopholes, which still allows shipments of contaminated and hard-to-recycle plastics to developing countries, he noted. Although the UK administration boasts of its resolve to implement complete ban on plastic waste exports in future, no action is being undertaken to transform it into laws, Puckett added.

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BAN pointed out that the UK exported nearly 7,000 tonnes of plastic waste to Asian countries in the month of September 2020, mainly to Malaysia, Pakistan, Vietnam and Indonesia. It urged the administration to take urgent actions to ban exports of all types of plastic waste. This could be achieved by simultaneously boosting plastic recycling infrastructure and imposing ban on plastic materials such as single-use plastic bags.