Policy implications for gaps in traditional plastic waste material flow analysis: Palmerston North, New Zealand

Abstract

The Basel Plastic Waste Amendments reflect growing global concern about the illegal plastic waste trade as waste colonialism. Comprehensive analyses of plastic waste material sources, pathways, and fates are needed for effective plastic waste trade policy. Plastics waste flows from Palmerston North, New Zealand to Malaysia highlight potential gaps in plastic waste trade policies. The authors recommend strengthening New Zealand's national waste policy framework and the Basel Convention's Plastics Amendments by basing policy responses on critical transboundary plastic waste material flow analyses, establishing harmonized definitions including “recyclable” and “environmentally sound recycling”; regulating contamination thresholds and container inspections; and waste trade traceability, transparency, compliance, enforcement, and remediation; reclassifying fluorinated polymers and thermosets as “hazardous”; and prioritizing principles of prevention, proximity and precaution over future investments in the management of plastic waste.