Data overhaul crucial for assessing global plastic trade

New research suggests that countries importing plastic scrap need to recycle an average 63% of the material to break even, a figure far higher than is currently achieved.

Researchers at three academic institutions in the Netherlands have coined the term ‘required recycling rate’ (RRR), effectively the minimum rate needed to break even.
They have estimated the RRR for the 22 largest plastic waste-importing countries from 2013 to 2022 based on an economic break-even point whereby the revenue from recycling matches the costs of imports and the recycling process (labour, electricity, and real estate rentals).

Data deficiency

‘At least 63% of imported plastic waste must be recycled, surpassing the average domestic recycling rate of 23% by 40 percentage points,’ conclude Kai Li, Hauke Ward, Hai Xiang Lin and Arnold Tukker. ‘Country-specific RRR provided could enhance research and policy efforts to better quantify and mitigate the environmental impact of plastic waste trade.’

The trio argue that previous research has faced a lack of official data on exported plastics from Europe. They argue that a reliance on domestic or scenario-based rates highlights the urgent need for comprehensive and transparent data to guide policy and research effectively.

North-South divide

The academics’ research, published in Nature Communications, finds that countries in Asia and Eastern Europe have the lowest RRR for imported plastic waste, starting at around 40%. Thailand, Turkey, and the Czech Republic, for example, have the lowest RRR benchmarks for their respective plastic waste types, ranging from 40 to 50%.

In contrast, higher RRRs are needed for Western Europe and North America, reflecting limited profitability for recycling imported plastic waste in these regions. The highest RRRs are observed in France, the UK, Belgium, and Canada with average values between 61% and 82% for all plastic waste types.

Examining specific plastics indicates that PE and PS have the lowest RRR, averaging 10–20% lower than those for PVC.
The academics are based at the Institute of Environmental Sciences at Leiden University, Delft University’s Institute of Applied Mathematics and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research at The Hague.