From the turn of the year, EU countries should only be allowed to export clean plastic waste for recycling.
Exports of plastic waste from the European Union are severely restricted at the turn of the year. Only clean plastic waste is allowed to be exported to developing countries for recycling.
Stricter requirements apply to exports and imports to and from industrialized countries. The aim is to get the environmental pollution caused by plastic under control and to systematically recycle the material.
In 2019, according to the Commission, the EU exported 1.5 million tons of plastic waste, mostly to Turkey and Asian countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, India and China. China itself decided on restrictions in 2018 and severely throttled imports.
