Research uncovers disturbing trend in Vietnam's booming import industry: 'Raises questions of fairness'

Recent reports by Reuters have revealed Vietnam is importing more plastic waste than it can recycle, causing a significant amount of recycled plastic to end up in landfills. 

What's happening?

Vietnam is one of the world's top importers of plastic waste, reaping billions of dollars for collecting plastic waste from Japan, the U.S., and Europe. The plastic waste trade in Vietnam was worth $3.8 billion last year, according to United Nations data. 

However, new research has revealed that when countries send plastic for sorting and recycling in Vietnam, most of it ends up polluting the environment. 

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In fact, a report published in January revealed that Vietnam only recycles up to one-third of its imported plastic waste. Instead, most of the unrecycled plastic ends up getting dumped in "unsanitary" landfills, 15% of which is directly released into the environment and oceans.

"Exporting waste for recycling to destinations without sound recycling capacity raises questions of fairness and sustainability," write the authors of the paper.

Why is the new research on recycling in Vietnam important?

The new reports uncover the dark reality of trading global plastic waste. When countries sell their plastic recycling to nations that cannot handle the waste, it ends up polluting the environment and local communities.

"Countless discarded bags float on the canal running through Minh Khai village, whose narrow streets are clogged with tall heaps of plastic waste spilling out from villagers' front yards and stacked near furnaces where non-recyclable scrap is burned," write Francesco Guarascio and Khanh Vu of Reuters. 

What's being done about the plastic waste trade?

U.N. delegates are in the process of discussing ways to minimize the unfair impact of the plastic waste trade. At a U.N. summit in South Korea, delegates met to discuss new global rules that would limit trade in an effort to establish stricter import requirements. 

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