Above: The logo of the organization on the floor of the lobby of the Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France (picture from the Internet)

Recently, Interpol issued a report saying that criminal groups are profiting from soaring plastic waste. The latter transports plastic waste from rich countries to Asia under the banner of recycling, which is actually incinerated and dumped, increasing local environmental pollution.

According to Interpol, plastic consumption has exploded in the past 10 years. In 2018 alone, richer countries produced approximately 360 million tons of plastic waste.

It is estimated that at least 8 million tons of plastic enter the ocean every year.

Some countries have set recycling targets. For example, Europe requires the recycling rate to rise to more than 30%. There are reports that high goals have spawned a lucrative second-hand plastics market-which is expected to reach 50.36 billion US dollars in 2022.

This has stimulated illegal operators to make profits in this difficult-to-regulate industry. Interpol believes that it is "urgent" to understand how criminals use regulatory loopholes.

Interpol is a cross-government anti-crime agency headquartered in France. The agency stated that organized crime networks are using legitimate pollution control services as a cover for illegal operations, and the crime behind it is environmental damage and even murder.

Calum MacDonald, head of the Advisory Committee of the INTERPOL Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Committee, said in a statement: "Global plastic pollution is the most common environmental threat on the planet today. Correctly regulate and manage plastic pollution. It is vital to global environmental security."

"Forgery" recovery rate

The above report collected information from 40 countries and pointed out that many recycling targets could not be verified because the system "lack of transparency" and the outside world could not be sure whether plastic waste was actually recycled.

The situation is particularly worrisome for those countries that are unable to dispose of their own domestic waste and have difficulty in implementing regulations.

According to Interpol, some major plastic waste importing countries have a high rate of waste management, including India (87%), Indonesia (83%) and Malaysia (57%).

The report said: "These figures show that the high recycling rate of plastic waste in exporting countries may be forged, and there is still a lot of uncertainty about how plastic waste is actually handled overseas."

At the beginning of 2018, China tightened import restrictions on waste plastics, and classified plastic waste from households and supermarkets in Europe, North America and other places as waste for illegal transportation. This has led to a surge in plastic waste shipped to countries in South and Southeast Asia.

The report said that with the shrinking of China's second-hand plastics market, companies have moved their recycling business to neighboring countries. Prior to this, China had disposed of almost half of the world's plastic waste. Facts have proved that the export transfer of huge amounts of garbage has already "overwhelmed" some countries.

Above: Huge amounts of plastic waste overwhelm the environment (Image source network)

The "junkyard" of the world

The above situation has stimulated the development of illegal waste disposal industries in emerging destination countries, and the amount of plastic waste transferred to unlicensed recycling facilities has increased significantly.

The small town of Jenjarom, not far from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is an example. In 2018, a large number of plastic processing plants suddenly appeared here, a huge amount of waste was piled up in the open burning, and the air was filled with harmful gases.

Many Southeast Asian countries are trying to resist the impact of this international garbage. However, Interpol stated that the effort to repatriate waste remains "long and challenging," and the cargo may end up in the port for months or even years.

Earlier this year, Malaysia sent dozens of containers carrying plastic waste back to the country of origin-most of which were wealthier countries, and declared that it would not become the world's "junkyard".

Above: Plastic garbage containers found in the port (picture from the Internet)

Interpol mentioned that the current challenge is to determine the source of plastic waste, because criminal networks will change illegal transportation routes and use transit countries to disguise its source.

Interpol warned that even if some countries tighten restrictions, merchants will still transfer goods to "new and poorly regulated countries"-illegal plastic waste has been found to be shipped to Laos and Myanmar.

Plastic Planet

These illegal activities do not only occur in Asia.

Interpol found that organized criminal groups are operating in parts of Europe. It warned that crimes related to these wastes are becoming "more complex and threats are getting worse."

In August 2019, in the French town of Signes, the mayor was murdered for preventing illegal dumping of waste.

The report said that even if relevant regulations will be tightened from 2021, there is still a need to strengthen international cooperation to curb crime in the industry.

In commenting on this study, WWF International Headquarters called for "systematic changes and stronger accountability systems" in the way of using and disposing of plastic waste.

Eirik Lindebjerg, Director of Global Plastics Policy at WWF International Headquarters, said: "Waste crime is a growing threat, rooted in a more fundamental problem: our inability to manage the use of plastics and produce."