What is ‘waste colonialism’ and why has Thailand banned imports of plastic?

Thailand has become the latest country to take on the global plastic waste crisis by banning imports of plastic waste.

For years, the country had served as a key destination for plastic waste from developed nations like the United States and Japan.

Here’s what you need to know about the ban, global plastic waste imports, and their impact on the environment and health.

Why has Thailand banned imports of plastic waste?

As of January 1, 2025, Thailand has stopped importing plastic waste in an effort to curb toxic pollution in the country.

Since 2018, Thailand has been a leading importer of plastic waste from developed nations such as the US, United Kingdom and Japan.

Between 2018 and 2021, the country imported more than 1.1 million tonnes of plastic scraps, according to Thai officials. In 2023, Japan alone exported about 50 million kilogrammes (50,000 tonnes) of plastic waste to Thailand.

These imports were often poorly handled, with many factories burning the waste instead of recycling it.

The new ban, introduced by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, was approved by the country’s cabinet in December 2024. However, environmental campaigners have been pushing for this for years now. In 2019, activists from Thailand and Greenpeace held demonstrations for a ban on electronic and plastic waste during the 34th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit held in Bangkok.

Why do Western countries export plastic waste to countries like Thailand?

It’s cold economics.

Konstantinos Velis, senior lecturer in waste and resource engineering at Imperial College London explained that the global trade in waste and after-use materials is a multistage and “widely diversified globalised trade”.

Western countries often export waste — including plastic — to countries like Thailand because it is cheaper and easier than managing rubbish domestically.

Countries in the Global South, including Thailand, usually have lower labour costs and a weaker exchange rate, and so can process and recycle waste at lower costs than would be possible in the West. For a rich nation, the price of recycling comes down — while it can still claim to be meeting its recycling targets, and project itself as committed to a clean, green environment.

Economics further explains why this practice is also common within rich but unequal countries — like the US, where such dynamics have also persisted domestically.

For years, northeastern states in the US have sent their waste to southern states, where weaker environmental regulations and economic disparities in terms of lower wages and land values make running landfills cheaper.

In 2018, a “poop train” full of sewage from New York and New Jersey?was parked in the southeastern US state of Alabama for months, triggering outrage.

Why do Global South countries agree to this?

Countries in the Global South often accept plastic waste due to economic incentives. Repurposing imported plastic waste can also create jobs and support local economies.

The global plastic waste management market was estimated to be worth $37bn in 2023 and has been projected to grow to roughly $44bn by 2027.

Estimates from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) reveal that in 2022, Turkiye, for instance, earned $252m from importing scrap plastic. Malaysia imported $238m worth of scrap plastic that year, Vietnam $182m and Indonesia $104m.

What is the impact of this plastic waste on health and the environment?

Plastic waste, especially mixed household plastics, are either melted into plastic pellets, burned or dumped. These mixed plastics are hard to recycle because they’re often jumbled with non-recyclable items such as bottles and packaging. The melted pellets are used to make products such as packing or furniture.

Experts also warn that if the United Nations cannot resolve ongoing disagreements over a treaty to end plastic pollution, it could lead to a major human health crisis.

Leading concerns include the growing exposure to microplastics—tiny plastic particles resulting from the breakdown of larger plastic items—which are found everywhere, from air and water to food and human tissues.

Microplastics are also added to certain products to enhance them at times. For example, they are used in exfoliating scrubs or toothpaste as abrasive beads. Even when rinsed off, they do not decompose in water and instead accumulate in the environment.

Studies find that microplastics can take anywhere from 100 to 1,000 years to break down so much that they disappear.

People are also at risk of inhaling toxic pollutants from burning plastic waste. This burning releases harmful chemicals and particles, increasing risks of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, particularly in areas with poor waste management, according to an article published in the British Medical Journal in January.

Which other countries receive plastic waste from Western countries?

Several other Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia, have also historically been paid to take in plastic waste.

China was previously the biggest market for household waste and had taken nearly half of the world’s plastic waste since 1992 until it implemented a ban in 2018. This became a watershed moment for trade.

That same year, in 2018, plastic waste sent into Thailand spiked to more than 500,000 tonnes – a tenfold increase from the average amount before 2015, according to statistics from the Thai customs department.

Meanwhile, after China’s ban, the UK began to export more plastic waste to Turkiye than any other country, with the amount increasing from 12,000 tonnes in 2016 to 209,642 tonnes in 2020. This accounted for about 30 percent of UK plastic waste exports.

In May 2021, Turkiye announced an import ban on ethylene polymer plastic waste, commonly used in food packaging and containers such as bottles. It was repealed within days of implementation following pressure from the local plastic industry, which relies on waste imports as raw materials.

Do some rich countries also import plastic waste?

They do. The Netherlands, for instance, is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of plastic waste. In trade records, it is, however, also the planet’s largest importer of plastic waste.

A part of that — the scale of both Dutch exports and imports — is a technicality, suggest experts.

“A country such as the Netherlands featuring a globally major international port such as that of Rotterdam would be featuring as an intermediate point,” Velis of Imperial College London said. In effect, plastic waste transiting through Dutch ports would show as imports and exports for the Netherlands.

But that isn’t the full picture.

Industrialised nations often also rely on imports to meet the demand for secondary plastics in their economy, which can be more affordable than building extensive recycling systems, said Velis.

Why do campaigners call this ‘waste colonialism’?

Many of the world’s leading exporters of plastic waste are developed economies with significant recycling capabilities.?The top 10 exporters are all high-income, developed nations — seven are European. Together, they account for 71 percent of global plastic waste exports, totalling more than 4.4 million tonnes per year.

Germany, for instance, exports approximately 688,067 tonnes annually, making it the top exporter globally. The UK exports about 600,000 tonnes per year, accounting for 61 percent of its plastic waste.

The US, by contrast, does recycle the bulk of its plastic waste. Yet it still does export substantial volumes: In 2018, the US shipped abroad 1.07 million tonnes of plastic waste, representing about one-third of its recycling, with 78 percent of those exports sent to countries with insufficient waste management systems.

Have any Western countries stopped exporting plastic waste to the Global South?

Yes, some Western countries have taken steps to stop or reduce their exports.

In 2023, the European Union announced it would ban plastic waste exports to poorer countries outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from mid-2026 to protect the environment and health in those nations. The OECD is a trade and development group of 38 mostly wealthy countries.

Exports to OECD countries will have stricter rules, and non-OECD countries can apply for exemptions from the new EU rule if they prove they can manage the waste sustainably.

What is the solution?

Such country-specific or bloc-specific restrictions are only patchwork fixes, many activists argue.

They have been calling for an effective global plastic waste treaty. This would establish legally binding rules to reduce plastic production and improve frameworks for waste management and recycling on a global level.

In December 2024, countries failed to agree on a treaty during UN-led talks in South Korea’s Busan. More than 100 nations supported a draft to cut the 400 million tonnes of plastic produced annually and phase out certain chemicals and single-use plastics. But oil-producing countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Russia opposed the cuts, causing the negotiations to fail. Plastics are made from petrochemicals derived from oil and gas, making their production closely tied to the fossil fuel industry.

It is unclear when the next global talks around a plastic treaty will take place.