Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), 29 January 2025 – The transition to a circular economy requires the adoption a coordinated regional approach for tackling illegal waste traffic. This is the consensus reached at a two-day regional technical seminar in Kuala Lumpur this month that the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) organized under the Unwaste project.
In addition to generating proceeds for organized crime and undermining international trade and the rule of law, waste trafficking prevents the formation of a circular economy at regional and global levels.
The circular economy is a system that can eliminate waste and regenerate nature. It keeps products and materials in use by reducing production, maintenance, reuse, repair, recycling and composting. By decreasing reliance on finite resources, the circular economy is an efficient response to global challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and waste.
But waste trafficking is significantly disrupting the world’s transition to a circular economy by facilitating the “take-make-consume-dispose” model, undermining material flows, creating illegal markets and bypassing environmentally sound waste management practices.
During the technical seminar, the Government of Malaysia, which recently assumed the annually rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), underscored its commitment to national and regional efforts to tackle waste trafficking. Deputy Minister YB Liew Chin Tong, Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry highlighted “the critical role of intra- and interregional cooperation in harmonizing policies, sharing expertise and addressing common challenges, such as waste trafficking” and reaffirmed Malaysia’s dedication to promoting sustainable development through circular economy initiatives and by combating illegal waste traffic.
The seminar drew waste and circular economy experts from across the region to foster a rich dialogue on harmonizing strategies that will better combat the illegal waste flows from Europe and beyond and to encourage the integration of waste trafficking into the ASEAN Circular Economy Framework as well as national circular economy action plans.
“Trafficked waste contributes to environmental harm, social exploitation and undermines security and trust in global trade systems,” said Benedikt Hofmann, Deputy Regional Representative of UNODC’s Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, emphasizing the UN Office’s commitment to countering waste trafficking as part of its broader mission to prevent and address organized crime, corruption, money laundering and environmental degradation.
Rafael Daerr, European Union Ambassador to Malaysia, also reiterated the European Union’s commitment to “working with government counterparts and all relevant stakeholders to continue advancing the regional action plan on waste trafficking, ensuring it is integrated into the ASEAN Circular Economy Framework”.
“While waste trafficking has severe implications for the environment and human health due to improper waste management, it is also recognized that legal waste trade and the development of a circular economy is critical for economies and environmental protection. As such we cannot view the criminality of the illegal waste trade in isolation,” said Sallie Yang, Programme Management Officer at UNEP.Using the seminar’s outcomes, UNODC and UNEP will develop a discussion paper that expands on the links between the waste trade, the circular economy and waste trafficking and that draws critical attention to how waste trafficking is slowing the transition to a circular economy.
The Unwaste project is implemented by the UNODC Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, in cooperation with UNEP, and benefits from the financial support of the European Union.
Further information
Click here to learn more about the Unwaste project.
Click here to learn more about UNODC's Regional Programme for Southeast Asia.
Click here to learn more about UNODC’s Global Programme on Crimes That Affect the Environment.