Germany was the world’s largest exporter of plastic waste in 2025 and sent more than 810,000 tonnes abroad, according to analysis of trade data carried out for the Guardian.

The UK followed close behind, according to the analysis by Watershed Investigations and the Basel Action Network. It exported more 675,000 tonnes, its highest level in eight years and enough to fill about 127,000 shipping containers.

Much of the waste was sent to Turkey, followed by Malaysia, with Indonesia also a regular destination. Investigations have repeatedly linked the plastic recycling industry in these countries to environmental damage, illegal dumping and burning, and labour abuses.

Sedat Gündoğdu, a Turkish marine biologist who investigates plastic pollution, said: “The Turkish Mediterranean coast is the most polluted coast in the whole Mediterranean because of the plastic waste from the recycling factories. There’s huge amounts of microplastics – sometimes people can’t even get into the sea because of all the waste.”

Larger countries such as the US and China export less plastic waste partly because more is handled domestically, through landfill, incineration or recycling, and they are not subject to the same recycling target pressures as Europe and the UK, where exports can count towards official recycling rates. The US exported 385,000 tonnes in 2025, making it the world’s fifth biggest exporter, while in 2024 China was the 18th biggest exporter.

The EU has agreed to ban exports of plastic waste to countries outside the group of mostly rich OECD nations by November 2026, yet half is still being sent to those destinations. Much of the remainder goes to Turkey, now the largest recipients of European plastic waste.

With the ban approaching, there are concerns that all exports could be redirected to developing OECD countries such as Turkey, as well as parts of eastern Europe, which lack the capacity to manage higher volumes.

In Turkey, the waste infrastructure is already overwhelmed. Gündoğdu said: “The country generates 3.3m tonnes of plastic waste domestically, which is more than double our capacity to recycle.”

Sara Matthieu, an MEP for the Greens/European Free Alliance grouping, described the imminent export ban as a “watershed moment”, saying Europe was beginning to take responsibility for its own waste. However, she said that “due to attacks on green policies by conservatives and the far right” the EU’s capacity to recycle domestically had reduced by 1m tonnes in the last few years.

“The major problem is that freshly produced plastics are still much cheaper than reused and recycled materials. We have known about this market failure for years, but the EU Commission has mostly been asleep at the wheel [and] not tackling the root of the challenges,” Matthieu said.

A spokesperson for the EU Commission said: “In the last decade, uncontrolled trade in plastic waste has increased, damaging both the environment and public health. The rules on the export of plastic waste were further strengthened in the new waste shipment regulation, including a prohibition of such exports to non-OECD countries as from 21 November 2026. It affects around 0.5m tonnes of plastic waste.

“In December 2025, the Commission adopted a new package of measures to boost circular economy and strengthen Europe’s plastic recycling. In additional, targets for recycled content, as in the single use plastics directive, are also supporting the EU plastics industry.”

The UK has made a similar commitment on plastic exports to non-OECD countries, written into the Environment Act 2021, but it remains subject to consultation. In 2025, about a fifth of Britain’s plastic waste exports still went to non-OECD countries, with shipments to Malaysia – now the UK’s third-largest destination – rising by almost 60% since 2024.

Pua Lay Peng, a Malaysian activist who campaigns against the influx of foreign plastic waste and the resulting pollution, said: “This is waste colonialism.”

The UK is tightening its rules on waste exports and recycling, with reforms aimed at improving transparency and cracking down on illegal shipments of non-recyclable plastic. Exporters and reprocessors must now register and provide evidence of how waste is handled, while a digital tracking system due to come into force this year will require operators to record waste movements electronically.

Although environmental campaigners welcome these controls, they say they do not go far enough or address the core issues.

Amy Youngman, a legal policy specialist for the Environmental Investigation Agency, said: “As long as we keep producing this volume of plastic it’ll displace waste to OECD countries like Turkey and increase incineration in Europe and the UK.”

Furthermore, she said the UK could become a destination for EU plastic waste. “Our other concern is that there will be an increase of exports from the EU to the UK, who can then re-export to third countries, including non-OECD countries like Malaysia. The enforcement authorities are trying to prevent this but the UK needs more significant policy changes to address this issue holistically.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “The export of waste is subject to strict controls and we are currently reviewing the data on how plastic waste is handled overseas to ensure it is treated appropriately.

“We know we need to do more to re-use, reduce and recycle our resources and our circular economy growth plan will set out how we will deliver a more circular economy which is less dependent on plastic waste exports.

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