The United States ranked as the leader among the largest importers of plastic waste in the world in 2019, according to statistics from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
US external purchases of these products totaled $ 249 million in 2019.
Then they positioned themselves among the main importers of plastic waste: Hong Kong (199 million) and the Netherlands (190 million).
Until 2017, China was the leading importer of plastic waste (for a total of 3,259 million dollars), but since 2018 it has drastically reduced its imports, to 49 million in 2018 and 0.5 million in 2019.
Plastic waste importers
Plastics are the materials made up of a variety of organic, synthetic or semi-synthetic compounds, which have the property of being malleable and therefore can be molded into solid objects in various ways.
This property gives plastics a wide variety of applications. Its name derives from plasticity, a property of materials, which refers to the ability to deform without breaking.
Other major importers of plastic waste in the past year were: Taiwan, Germany, Turkey, Malaysia, Belgium, Italy and Indonesia.
Of the ten major importers of plastic waste, Hong Kong makes these purchases mainly for re-export.
External sales
Global exports of plastics and related items increased an average of 6% annually between 2000 and 2019, from $ 193 billion in 2000 to $ 615 billion in 2019, according to WTO data.
In 2019, exports of these products fell 5%, declining faster than total merchandise exports (-3%), partly due to international trade tensions.
The share of plastics and related items in total world exports increased from 3.1% in 2000 to 3.4% in 2019.
In 2019, China was the world’s leading exporter of plastics, with a 14% share of world trade. In 2000, China was not even among the top 10 exporters.
The United States was the top exporter in 2000, falling to third place in 2019. Germany remained the second largest exporter.
In 2019, the product with the highest share (12%) in world exports of plastics were “ethylene polymers, in primary forms”, the plastic most used today, mainly for packaging.
This was followed by the «reinforced plastic plates, sheets, non-cellular films», most used in construction, with a 9% share, and «primary polyacetals, polyethers, polycarbonates, etc.», widely used in automotive and electronics industry, with a 9 percent share.
Trend
Global exports of plastic waste («plastic scrap, trim and scrap») peaked at $ 7.2 billion in 2011 (up from $ 1.4 billion in 2000).
Since then, it has steadily declined, dropping to a value of 3 billion in 2019.
The share of plastic waste in total plastic exports has fallen from a peak of 1.3% in 2011 to 0.5% in 2019.
