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Consequently, the NGO has documents indicating that 28 containers with supposedly recyclable plastic have arrived in Asia. According to Greenpeace, the Environment Ministry was informed that it planned to bring four containers from the delivery that did not go through Malaysian customs back to Austria for detailed analysis. Photographic and video material and statements from the recycling company in Malaysia indicate, according to the broadcast, that the trader in Asia, contrary to the agreement, received mixed non-recyclable electronic plastic scrap, which therefore ended up in a landfill. As in all non-OECD countries, the shipment of mixed plastic waste, that is, non-recyclable and chemically charged to Malaysia has been banned since 2019.
In addition to the 28 containers in 2020, according to documents available to Greenpeace, at least eleven containers with rubbish were sent from Austria to Malaysia already in 2019. However, there are no official reports to the Ministry of the Environment on the transport of plastic waste to Malaysia.
Elimination is expensive in Austria
The economic background: Correct disposal or incineration of waste in Austria is expensive due to environmental regulations and higher labor costs, according to the Association of Austrian Waste Management Companies between 100 and 170 euros per ton burned. In the current case, that would have been up to € 120,000. Instead, the Asian trader is said to have borne the shipping and customs costs under the false assumption that he could recycle and resell the material.
According to a report by the EU Environment Agency (EEA) from October 2019, 700 tonnes is a small amount, because in 2019 the EU should have exported around 1.8 million tonnes of plastic waste. However, Greenpeace pointed to an analysis by the Transcrime research center for the EU project “Blockwaste”, according to which more than 50 percent of hazardous waste in Austria would disappear from the official market.
“A sick system”
“The global trade in plastic waste is a dirty business. Behind it is a sick system: items such as plastic packaging, polyester clothing or household appliances are used here in Europe for a short period of time. And then the resulting plastic waste is sent to tens of thousands of kilometers around the world and to countries in the global south are recycled in adverse circumstances or dumped in landfills, where it damages nature, animals and human health. That must finally stop “, demands Lisa Panhuber, consumer expert of Greenpeace.
Authorities would have to carry out stricter and more frequent controls to ensure that no European waste ends up in landfills in countries in the Global South. Ultimately, legal requirements are required for packaging, electrical devices, and textiles to be durable, repairable, and reusable.
