Thailand bans plastic waste imports by 2021, intensifying calls to recycle waste close to its source

18 Oct 2018 --- Thailand is set to ban the importation of plastic waste from wealthy nations by 2021, citing concern over rising pollution and limited recycling capacity. The ban follows previous limitations set by the Thai government to limit the amount of plastic waste imports arriving at its shores. This mirrors the moves of a number of other South Asian countries, as wealthy nations inundate them with plastic waste following China’s ban earlier this year. At its peak, China was receiving almost nine million metric tons of plastic scrap a year, according to Greenpeace.

Thailand did not renew any import licenses for recovered plastics in June this year, meaning its ports have effectively been closed since then, Simon Ellin, CEO of the Recycling Association, tells PackagingInsights. 

A Greenpeace Unearthed analysis of official customs data revealed that UK plastic waste exports to countries as diverse as Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Poland shot up in the first three months of 2018, after which all countries introduced restrictions on imports. 

The investigative journalism group, Unearthed, further reported that Environment Secretary Michael Gove said back in December that Britain had to “stop offshoring our dirt” and deal with its plastic waste at home. But he also said that in the short term, the country would continue sending its waste abroad.

Labour MP and member of the Environmental Audit Committee, Kerry McCarthy, told Unearthed that the government had failed to “come to its senses” since the China ban.

The Thailand ban appears to be another pressure signifying the urgent need for countries, notably EU countries and the US, to deal with their waste – close to its source. 

Spotlight on the UK
Speaking to PackagingInsights, UK recycling agency Vandens Managing Director, David Wilson, notes that as Asian markets for plastic waste continue to close, it makes it more likely that recycling will take place locally to the source of the waste. 

“Although some Asian markets such as Malaysia may reopen soon, the evidence of China and Thailand is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to export recycled plastics to Asia. In February 2017, we opened our plastics recycling facility in Peterborough that enables us to recycle UK material here in the UK, and this is where we are choosing to invest,” he explains.

There is pressure on the UK to increase its recycling capacities: “It keeps the pressure on the full supply chain to find alternative and better recycling solutions, to ensure that UK material is the highest possible quality, ideally suited for use as a manufacturing feedstock,” says Ellin, CEO of the UK Recycling Association.

“Innovation to achieve this is happening right now. But innovation cannot be piecemeal, with one packaging producer taking one route while another retailer chooses to follow a different path. That will only result in a similarly chaotic system,” he adds.

Now is the time for UK companies to band together. A uniformed system based on an approved list of materials that are easy to collect, easy to recycle and in demand from manufacturers in the UK, the EU, and Asia, is necessary, explains Ellin.

“What is really clear is that we must develop UK markets for recovered plastic to create a balance between the material used here in the UK and that exported.”

“Key drivers for this will be the creation of minimum recycled contents, like the 35 percent recommended by the EU, and increased taxation of virgin polymers,” Ellin concludes.

Managing the mammoth mountain of waste that may only steadily increase will potentially be manageable by maximizing the quality of our materials. You can read a further PackagingInsight interview with Ellin here, and more about the state of recycling in post-Brexit Britain here.

PackagingInsights also interviewed Mike Jackson of the UK Recycling Association during Packaing Innovations 2018 in London, discussing the effects of China's plastic waste import ban and more. See the video here.

By Laxmi Haigh