But still the frontrunner in the EU
German plastic waste exports halved
06/06/2023 11:03 am
Germany remains the largest exporter of plastic waste in the EU. After all, the inglorious exports are clearly falling. However, less of their own accord.
Germany is shipping less and less of its plastic waste abroad. Last year, exports amounted to 745,100 tons, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office. The amount of plastic waste exported has thus more than halved in the past ten years, the minus is 51 percent – mainly due to import restrictions in some Asian countries.
Germany is thus still the largest exporter of plastic waste in the EU, but the gap to the other countries has narrowed significantly. Most of the plastic waste from Germany went to the neighboring country of the Netherlands, followed by Turkey and Poland in second and third place among the most important buyer countries.
The Netherlands, on the other hand, exports a lot of waste via its port in Rotterdam. In an EU comparison, the country is the second largest waste exporter, followed by Belgium, which also has an important container port in Antwerp.
The Federal Statistical Office shared this information on the occasion of World Oceans Day next Thursday. According to studies, plastic waste, including from western industrialized countries, often ends up in the world’s oceans and pollutes the environment heavily.