On 5 June, the World Customs Organization (WCO) informed that the day marks World Environment Day, the United Nations’ foremost platform for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment. This year’s theme, #BeatPlasticPollution, draws attention to one of the most urgent and pervasive global environmental challenges — plastic waste.
On this World Environment Day and in line with the WCO theme of the year, “Customs Delivering on its Commitment to Efficiency, Security and Prosperity”, the WCO Secretary General called for unified global action to #BeatPlasticPollution, saying: “The global plastic pollution crisis demands collective and sustained responses. Customs administrations are uniquely placed to detect, intercept, and prevent the illegal trade in plastic waste. On this World Environment Day, as the Customs community, we must reaffirm our commitment to protect the environment and leverage the tools, knowledge, and operational networks developed by the WCO and its partners to support their actions.”
Illegal shipments of plastic waste threaten ecosystems, human health, and domestic waste management systems.
Data collected by the WCO indicates that plastic wastes continue to be illicitly shipped across borders. Under the leadership of the WCO, the Customs community plays a pivotal role in confronting this crisis.
The WCO offers a multidimensional approach to support its 186 Members in enforcing environmental regulations addressing the illicit transboundary movement of plastic waste based on the provisions of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.
It provides training, develops tools, facilitates intelligence-sharing, offers technical assistance, including the development of domestic Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for waste shipments. The WCO also helps Customs administrations to build relationships with the relevant national authorities and develop strategies and related work plans with a holistic approach to the issue at hand.
The WCO also regularly organises a global enforcement initiative focused on waste, the Operation DEMETER series, during which participating Customs administrations are requested to mobilise their resources. The objective is to assess their capacity to enforce procedures and conduct efficient risk analysis, enhance data exchange and cooperation, and share actionable intelligence. The operation DEMETER series has received financial support from China Customs. Operation DEMETER X, the latest in the series, recorded major seizures of non-compliant plastic and other waste shipments.
But not all trade in waste is illegal and there is significant legal trade in waste both for recycling or other uses, or for disposal. This trade can be critical in achieving sufficient volumes for the set-up and continuation of recycling facilities and contribute to beat plastic pollution.
It is essential, however, to gain clarity on the legal trade in plastics and plastic waste. To do so, we must increase this trade’s visibility under the WCO Harmonized System (HS). The HS is the global system that underlies domestic tariff schedules, providing for the international classification of all the world’s trade goods into 5,387 unique HS codes. The level of detail on the waste trade that the HS data provides depends on how specific the relevant HS codes are. Gains in the visibility of certain types of waste have been made in recent editions of the HS, such as the inclusion of codes that separated electrical and electronic waste in the 2022 edition. Recognising the challenges plastics pose, the Contracting Parties to the HS have been looking at potential improvements for added visibility of the trade in plastics and plastic wastes for the next edition, which will enter into force in January 2028.