Much of the European plastic sent to Vietnam ends up in nature

Europe produces 26 million tons of plastic waste every year. Around 50% of plastic waste collected for recycling is sent outside the European Union (EU) for recycling due to a “lack of capacity, technology or financial resources to treat the waste locally”.

China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are the main destinations for European plastic. However, according to a recent studypublished in “Circular Economy and Sustainability” magazine, a significant part of the European plastic sent to Vietnam ends up being discarded in nature, as the recycling plants don’t have the capacity to cope with the quantity.

The research team visited Vietnam’s largest recycling center, located in the village of Minh Khai, to follow the recycling route of European plastic.

Scientists estimate that seven million liters of toxic wastewater used to process plastic waste are discharged into the village’s rivers and streams every day.

In addition to the environmental consequences, people are also affected. The team came across “people cooking, eating and living inside the recycling plant, surrounded by the toxic fumes of melted plastic,” as author Kaustubh Thapa says in a statement.

The decision to send this waste to countries with less strict environmental and social regulations than the EU and with insufficient infrastructure to process plastic waste (domestic and imported) is considered by scientists to be “socio-ecologically and ethically questionable”.

“European consumers make an effort to separate recycling, but we can clearly see that their efforts are, for a considerable percentage, in vain,” says Thapa. “Focusing on increasing recycling rates in the EU without systematically addressing the associated human and environmental damage along the entire value chain is not ethical, circular or sustainable.”

In the EU, waste treatment is often outsourced without transparency to countries with cheaper operating and labor costs, which contributes to “distancing waste” and hiding the consequences of excessive consumption.

The lack of accountability among the participants in the value chain, the inadequate application of EU and Vietnamese policies and the general lack of transparency in practices create fertile ground for exploitation gaps.

To this end, the researchers call for a reduction in unnecessary consumption and associated waste production, and suggest a shorter, more transparent, accountable and ethical value chain that promotes “social and environmental equity and justice globally, or at least does not contribute to inequality and injustice”.

Vietnam was chosen as a case study because of its importance in the global plastic waste value chain. After the Chinese ban on plastic waste imports, there was a significant increase in exports to East Asian countries. Estimates suggest that Vietnam recycles between 9 and 33% of imported plastic waste.