Introduction
Welcome to the Resources page of the Plastic Waste Transparency Project. Here you can find reports, films, webinars, photos etc. All is publicly available and usable as long as normal attribution is given when citing. To submit new resources for posting consideration please send to: thehub@ban.org.
Newsletters
Reports
Malaysia Government Letter to Friend of the Earth Malaysia / Contamination Levels
Other Documents
Report from the First Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-1)
Summary of EU Regulation (EU) 2021/1840 with Respect to B3011 (non-hazardous plastic waste)
Turkish Government Plastics Import Regulations Letter (in Turkish)
Break Free From Plastics - The Plastic Waste Trade Manifesto
Photos
Videos
#StopWasteColonialism
The Story of Plastic (Animated Short)
The Story of Plastic: Where Your Recycled Plastic Ends Up
Story of a plastic bottle - Greenpeace
More than three years have passed since the Plastic Waste Amendments to the Basel Convention entered into force on 1 January 2021. After China banned the import of several types of wastes in 2018, developing countries became overwhelmed with plastic wastes from high-income countries, diverted from their usual route to China. Much of the wastes were illegally dumped and burned, causing widespread pollution and health problems.
This webinar is the first in a series that in total will provide an introduction to the Waste Trade, why it takes place, its role in harming the circular economy, and the global legal architecture we can harness to stop it. Finally, it will introduce techniques to tracking waste trade.
As you know, the new Basel requirements on plastics, which also apply to e-Stewards, are coming into force on January 1, 2021. This webinar will give you useful information on how these requirements will have to be implemented by you. We will be joined by experts in plastics sorting and recycling to give you the latest information on plastics.
Into the Wasteland: Buried in Europe’s recycling
We all send our recycling somewhere for proper handling, but the operation of one such handling center in Poland makes one ask, is it being done right, or at all?
The European Commission estimates that the illegal handling of such waste represents around 15-30% of the total EU waste trade, generating EUR 9.5 billion in annual revenues.
So in part 3 of our investigative podcast series, the team dispatches Outriders journalist Eva Dunal to visit one such recycling facility in the pretty town of Zielona Góra close to the Polish-German border, and finds out just how unpopular it is with the neighbors, and especially the city council. They also speak with Jim Puckett, the ‘James Bond of waste trafficking’ at Basel Action Network, who reveals that much recycling is being ‘laundered’ via the Netherlands and shipped on to countries where such resources are often dumped, not recycled.
Recycling: Turning Trash into Treasure
Recycling used to just be called "scrap metal salvage" and it was thought of as an unsavory practice. That all changed as recently as the 1970s, when it became the curb side amenity it is today and part of a multi-billion-dollar industry. Now, the question isn't can we recycle, but can we recycle everything? Innovators in the field are trying to find out.
See something that’s not right?
If you see governments or corporations acting irresponsibly when it comes to waste policy or management, please let us know.
