Export of plastics waste outside the EU

The trends in plastics waste exports has been a rather stable decrease in recent years since 2016. After a period featuring no clear trend between 2009 and 2016, Extra-EU plastic waste exports have decreased significantly until 2022, but increased by 19% in 2023. The recent increase could be linked to slightly more favourable market conditions for exporting plastics waste compared to recycling it within the EU.

The recent reduction in extra-EU trade is partially compensated by an increase in intra-EU trade in most recent years – since 2017 EU intra trade has surpassed EU exports of plastic trade. Another trend is the changes in destination countries. Following the 2018 Chinese import ban on low quality plastic waste, EU plastic waste exports were increasingly sent to other destinations most noticeably Türkiye. In addition, to the Chinese import ban, other drivers of change to EU plastic waste exports, include amendments in the Basel Convention and EU policies towards an increase in recyclable materials quality, as well as investments in domestic recycling capacity.