5 things you should know about waste trafficking in Southeast Asia

1. Southeast Asian nations have taken action to restrict the flows of illegal waste streaming into their countries

In recent years, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia have become the top destinations in Southeast Asia for the inflow of both legal and illegal waste from the US, Japan, the UK, European Union (EU) and other countries. The sudden and sharp increase in waste imports has proved challenging for the countries in Southeast Asia, which have responded by returning containers of waste to the countries of origin, announcing bans on the import of some types of waste and by tightening regulations and increasing enforcement. These measures led to a reduction in the quantity of waste arriving in their countries.

2. 15-30% of EU waste shipments are illegal

The European Commission estimates that illegal waste shipments within the EU, and between third countries and the EU, represent around 15-30% of the total EU waste trade, generating EUR 9.5 billion in annual revenues from the illicit waste market in the EU alone. In 2021, the European Commission proposed new rules for the EU waste shipments to better tackle illegal waste trade both within the EU and between third countries and the EU.

3. Mislabelling of shipments and falsification of documents are among the practices used to smuggle waste

Despite the current efforts, illegal waste still reaches countries in Southeast Asia. Uncontrolled and illicit flows of waste are often hidden behind controlled or legal transboundary movements of goods – the boundaries between licit and illicit activities in the trafficking of waste can be very thin, and the activities, actors and modus operandi involved often overlap. The impact is even more important when destination countries have insufficient capacity for enforcement and/or lack adequate sanctions for illegal waste trade activities.

4. The Basel Convention is a key instrument to address waste trafficking

Waste trafficking is still common across all continents. The global legal instrument that addresses illegal waste trade is the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal (Basel Convention). It aims to protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects of hazardous wastes and is one of the few international conventions that criminalizes waste trafficking. In the past few years, the Parties to the Basel Convention adopted decisions aimed at reducing further the flow of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. At the 15^th Conference of the Parties (COP15), held from 6-17 June 2022, Parties adopted landmark amendments to ensure that all transboundary movements of electronic waste, whether hazardous or not, are subject to the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) of the importing state and any state of transit.

<p><em>Unwaste</em> organized a side event at the Conference of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions between 6-17 June 2022. Speakers from Indonesia, Thailand, Italy and the BRS Secretariat shared their expertise and challenges in their countries.</p>

Unwaste organized a side event at the Conference of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions between 6-17 June 2022. Speakers from Indonesia, Thailand, Italy and the BRS Secretariat shared their expertise and challenges in their countries.

5. Through the Unwaste project, UNODC supports ongoing efforts to tackle the illegal waste trade and encourages the transition to a circular economy

<p>The first <em>“Unwaste</em> Trendspotting Alert” was published in July 2022.</p>

The first “Unwaste Trendspotting Alert” was published in July 2022.

The Unwaste project, funded by the European Union and implemented by the Environment Team of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in co-operation with the United Nations Environment Programme, is aimed at understanding waste flows between the European Union and Southeast Asia, by looking into illegal trafficking and building on the current cooperation between regulatory agencies, enforcement, and criminal justice institutions. Through national - in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand - and regional dialogues, Unwaste actively supports ASEAN countries to combat waste trafficking.

The newly launched Unwaste Trendspotting Alert is a series of quarterly publications, prepared in cooperation with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), aimed at showing trends in waste trade from the EU to Southeast Asia, case studies on waste trafficking, and measures put in place in countries in the region to combat illicit waste flows.

Click here to subscribe to the quarterly Unwaste Trendspotting Alert

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