Friday

31st Mar 2023

Opinion

The EU should stop exporting its plastic waste, period

  • Illegally dumped plastic waste, including imported European plastic waste imports, near a residential neighbourhood in Sultangazi, Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo: Human Rights Watch)
Listen to article

If you live in the EU, chances are your plastic trash might be recycled by child or migrant workers in Turkey.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of metric tons of plastic waste from the European Union are shipped to Turkey for recycling. Yet plastic recycling facilities in Turkey are threatening the health of local communities and workers, including children, refugees, and undocumented migrants.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

In the coming days, the European Parliament will vote on a revision of the Waste Shipment Regulation, which is meant to prevent European waste from contributing to human health and environmental harm. This reform is an opportunity for EU member states to take responsibility for their own consumption and stop exporting plastic waste outside of the EU.

The current Commission proposal takes a step in the right direction by introducing a de-facto ban for plastics exports to non-OECD countries. EU exporting companies will have to independently audit facilities in importing countries to ensure the facility has the capacity to safely and properly treat waste and protect workers' health.

But as it stands, the draft regulation would allow plastic waste exports to Turkey to continue because it is an OECD member and has laws on the books to prevent health and environmental harm, even though those laws are not always enforced.

As the European Parliament and European Council finalise the EU Waste Shipment Regulation, they should ensure that the EU puts an end to the harmful practice of exporting its plastic waste to other countries, regardless of OECD status.

While we're often told that recycling is the most sustainable way to deal with plastic waste, the process can be hazardous. To be recycled, plastic must be sorted, cleaned, shredded, and then melted and formed into pellets for reuse. Research has shown that this process can emit hazardous air pollutants and toxins, poisoning the local environment and threatening people's health.

Unless the EU takes responsibility for reducing and managing its own plastic waste, the health of child and migrant workers will be at risk.

We recently documented the hazardous impact of plastic recycling in Turkey.

Workers and nearby residents told us about the significant health problems that they believe are linked to plastic recycling. These include high rates of asthma, trouble breathing, and skin ailments. Toxins released during recycling are linked with increased risk of cancer, miscarriages, and children born with disabilities. Turkish authorities largely fail to enforce laws that would protect people from serious harm.

A 16-year-old boy told us he began working in a plastic shredding facility in Adana, in southern Turkey, when he was just 9. He was exposed to extremely hazardous conditions there, including loading plastic onto a conveyer belt and feeding materials into the shredding machine, which has sharp metal blades.

In March, we met a refugee woman who came to Adana as a teenager fleeing the Syrian war. Shortly after arriving in Turkey, she began working 12 hours a day in a plastic recycling facility, where she earns less than the minimum wage and doesn't even have basic protective equipment like masks. The skin on her cheeks was irritated and red, and her arms had rashes. She told us that she has trouble breathing and her skin feels as if it's burning.

These problems are not unique. We interviewed dozens of plastic recycling facility workers and nearby residents in Turkey who said they've experience acute respiratory problems, difficulties accessing medical care, and a fear of retaliation from facility owners if they complain to the authorities.

Turkey has laws that prohibit children from working in plastic recycling facilities and regulations requiring facilities to be inspected for labor and environmental compliance, but the Turkish government's inadequate enforcement of environmental and occupational health laws makes the situation worse.

As the European Parliament and European Council finalise the EU Waste Shipment Regulation, they should ensure that the EU puts an end to the harmful practice of exporting its plastic waste exports to other countries, regardless of OECD status.

The EU is made up of some of the world's wealthiest nations. The EU should handle its own waste rather than expecting countries with fewer resources to take on this unjust burden.

Author bio

Krista Shennum is a Gruber Fellow with the environment and human rights division at Human Rights Watch.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

Investigation

The story of the EU's plastic packaging conflict of interests

Recycling packaging-waste is largely in the hands of the industry itself, via 'Green Dot' organisations. This creates a conflict of interest - because the industry benefits from the sale of as many individual bottles, wrappers, cans and trays as possible.

Ukraine — what's been destroyed so far, and who pays?

More than 50 percent of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, large parts of its transport network and industrial capacity, around 150,000 residential buildings damaged or destroyed. The bill is between €378bn to €919bn.

Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?

As autocracies collapsed across Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, Albanians had high expectations that democracy and a free-market economy would bring a better life. But Albania's transition from dictatorship to democracy has been uneven and incomplete.

Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?

As autocracies collapsed across Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, Albanians had high expectations that democracy and a free-market economy would bring a better life. But Albania's transition from dictatorship to democracy has been uneven and incomplete.

The overlooked 'crimes against children' ICC arrest warrant

An unprecedented component of this announcement has received less attention: the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Putin's commissioner for children's rights. Lvova-Belova is accused of deporting and unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Latest News

  1. Ukraine — what's been destroyed so far, and who pays?
  2. EU sending anti-coup mission to Moldova in May
  3. Firms will have to reveal and close gender pay-gap
  4. Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?
  5. Police violence in rural French water demos sparks protests
  6. Work insecurity: the high cost of ultra-fast grocery deliveries
  7. The overlooked 'crimes against children' ICC arrest warrant
  8. EU approves 2035 phaseout of polluting cars and vans

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting
  2. EFBWWEU Social Dialogue review – publication of the European Commission package and joint statement of ETUFs
  3. Oxfam InternationalPan Africa Program Progress Report 2022 - Post Covid and Beyond
  4. WWFWWF Living Planet Report
  5. Europan Patent OfficeHydrogen patents for a clean energy future: A global trend analysis of innovation along hydrogen value chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us