Towards a Just Circular Economy Transition: the Case of European Plastic Waste Trade to Vietnam for Recycling

Kaustubh Thapa (), Walter J. V. Vermeulen, Mo Ming Waal, Pauline Deutz and Hồng Quân Nguyễn
Additional contact information
Kaustubh Thapa: Utrecht University
Walter J. V. Vermeulen: Utrecht University
Mo Ming Waal: Utrecht University
Pauline Deutz: University of Hull
Hồng Quân Nguyễn: Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM)

Circular Economy and Sustainability, 2024, vol. 4, issue 2, 851-876

Abstract: Abstract Exporting waste for recycling to destinations without sound recycling capacity raises questions of fairness and sustainability. Due to insufficient recycling infrastructure in Europe to manage the growing generation of plastic waste, there has been an increase in waste trade for recycling in a complex global value chain, with the stated goal of achieving sound resource recovery. However, such trade poses increasing governance and sustainability challenges. The EU has implemented policies and systems for plastic waste management, including separate collection to prevent potential harm and promote resource reuse. Nevertheless, waste handling is often outsourced without transparency to countries with cheaper operating and labour costs, which can cause harm to individuals, societies, and the environment. Fifty per cent of the collected European plastic waste for recycling is shipped for recycling outside the EU without accountability. This Vietnamese case study of the EU plastic waste exports for recycling aims to increase our understanding of waste governance and its circularity, sustainability and justice implications. We adopt a multidisciplinary perspective to understand the challenges of the EU’s plastic waste export practices for the broader socio-ecological system. We propose a multidisciplinary framework as an ecocentric ethical guide for just and circular future waste shipment practices with strong consideration for the social and ecological dimensions. We hope that this research and its outcomes can provide insights for forthcoming policies, such as the United Nations treaty on plastic waste pollution.

Keywords: Plastic waste trade for recycling; Circular economy; Recycling; Plastic waste value chain; Just transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43615-023-00330-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:circec:v:4:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s43615-023-00330-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer.com/journal/43615

DOI: 10.1007/s43615-023-00330-w

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Circular Economy and Sustainability from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().