UK can create 5,400 jobs if it stops plastic waste exports, report finds

"The UK could end its reliance on exporting plastic waste by 2030 to support the creation of 5,400 new jobs and take responsibility for the environmental impact of its waste, according to research. The report said up to 15 new recycling facilities could be built by the end of the decade, attracting more than 800m of private investment. The increase in capacity would help generate almost 900m of economic value every year; providing at least 100m of new tax revenues annually."

"Exporting plastic creates environmental problems for many countries that receive it, as they do not have the ability to recycle it. It also, the report argues, removes valuable feedstock for a British recycling industry. Campaigners want the loophole that makes it cheaper to export plastic waste rather than recycle it in the UK, closed. Exports have soared in the first part of this year to Indonesia in particular a country struggling with an environmental crisis from plastic pollution amounting to more than 24,000 tonnes."

"The report said that by exporting the unprocessed plastic waste it produces, the UK is evading its responsibility to deal with its own waste and was denying itself an economic opportunity. The Guardian revealed last month that, in the past two years, 21 plastic recycling and processing factories across the UK have shut down owing to the scale of exports, the cheap price of virgin plastic and an influx of cheap products from Asia."

Ending exports of unprocessed plastic waste by 2030 could create 5,400 new jobs, enable construction of up to 15 recycling facilities, and attract more than 800m of private investment. Expanded domestic recycling capacity could generate almost 900m of economic value annually and provide at least 100m in new tax revenues each year. Nearly 600,000 tonnes of plastic waste were exported in 2024, rising 5%, which removes feedstock for a domestic recycling industry and shifts environmental burdens to importing countries lacking recycling capacity. Large-scale exports have coincided with the closure of 21 UK recycling and processing factories.

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