Virginia Comolli, author of the GI-TOC report Plastic For Profit, talks us through facts about the illegal disposal of plastic waste.

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Plastic pollution is at crisis level. We globally produce a staggering 460 million metric tonnes of plastic annually, 40% of which is for single use items.

Shockingly, only 20% of plastic waste is recycled, according to optimistic estimates. This is due to inefficiencies and illegal practices in waste management, and the fact that some types of plastic cannot be recycled or it is too expensive to do so.

But plastic waste has an even darker side. Many legitimate businesses, as well as criminal actors, engage in the illicit trade of plastic waste. They circumvent bans and conventions, and export hazardous plastic waste from producing countries, predominantly in the Global North, to developing and emerging regions in Africa and Asia.

In the absence of sophisticated processing facilities, the illegal dumping, burying and burning of plastic waste severely undermines ecosystems and human health.

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