Watchdog challenges shipping lines to curb illegal waste exports

by Kirstin Linnenkoper, Recycling International

A total of 52 organisations from all over the world have called upon major shipping lines to prove their corporate responsibility commitments by no longer transporting plastic waste from industrialised countries to developing countries that are ‘ill-equipped to handle it in an environmentally sound manner’.

Parties including the Basel Action Network (BAN) and Greenpeace have written letters to the nine largest global shipping lines: Hapag-Lloyd (Germany), Maersk (Denmark), CMA CGM (France), MSC (Switzerland), Hamburg SUD (Germany), Hyundai Merchant Marine (Korea), Evergreen (Taiwan), COSCO (China), and Orient Shipping (Jordan), urging them to improve their plastic scrap export policies. The main complaint is that such exports are highly likely to be unsorted, contaminated, and illegal.

On January 1, 2021, it became illegal for 187 countries, including China, Mexico, Malaysia, India, and Indonesia that are parties to the Basel Convention, to receive a variety of mixed and contaminated plastic wastes from the United States and European Union countries. Other shipments require the consent of the importing country before they can be legally transported.