Why is the Netherlands a major player in the global plastic waste market?

The plastic waste trade is a major global business involving large corporations, small traders, waste brokers, law enforcement agencies, and governments from all over the world. In 2023, reported global exports of plastic waste were worth around 6.13 billion US dollars, a level of profitability equated by the Basel Institute on Governance with other major crime areas such as human trafficking. The dynamics within the sector are clear: plastic waste shipments often flow from high-income countries to low-income countries*. The receiving destinations, which are not equipped with adequate and/or sufficient waste management infrastructure, are frequently overwhelmed with waste and have to manage foreign exports on top of their own domestic waste. In this article, we explain why the waste trade remains so profitable for certain actors and why specific countries such as the Netherlands play a key role.

Most of these morally questionable plastic waste streams were legally permitted in the past. Experts estimate that approximately 25% of the global plastic waste trade is illegal and remains under the radar of law enforcement agencies and official reports. The illegal waste trade is the second most profitable environmental crime in the world, after the illegal wildlife trade. This is what is known as a high-reward, low-risk crime. Waste usually has a negative economic value because it entails costs for the parties that produce it if they wish to manage it safely and sustainably. Therefore, incentives exist to find ways to reduce those management costs by outsourcing the procedure. Shipping waste to countries with less stringent environmental standards or simply dumping it illegally out of sight of the authorities is the main modus operandi. Exporting illegal plastic waste is as simple as changing a number in the shipment's registration code and hoping customs does not inspect it. As the World Customs Organization stated in their Illicit Waste Report, high profitability is driven by weak regulatory enforcement at many trading points across the world. This allows large quantities of recyclable and non-recyclable plastic waste to be misclassified and exported outside the European Union to Türkiye and Southeast Asia. Such practices often lead "to a lack of environmentally sound management, posing serious pollution risks to air, water, and soil". As many environmental justice advocates have shown, European plastic is frequently burned in illegal dumpsites in countries such as Malaysia and Türkiye.

What is the role of the Netherlands?

The Netherlands is one of the highest-earning countries in the world. The Dutch economy is strong and heavily trade-oriented thanks to its privileged geographical position at the heart of the EU, with access to international waters and strong trade relations. Despite its small size, the Netherlands is one of the largest per capita exporters of plastic waste in the world and ranks annually in the top 5 countries in terms of total plastic waste exports. The latest reports on this topic from researchers at Utrecht University show that a total of approximately 2,000 kilotonnes (kilotonne = 1 million kilograms) of plastic waste enters Dutch territory each year. For reference, that would equate to roughly the same volume as 3.8 billion litres of water, more than 1,510 Olympic-sized swimming pools filled with plastic waste.

Figure 1. Dutch plastic waste imports and exports in 2017. In this figure, elaborated by Lobelle et al. (2023), the scale of Dutch PW flows is shown, along with what portion of them is reported.

In 2022, roughly 18.5% of globally imported plastic waste went to the Netherlands, a striking share considering that Dutch people currently make up no more than 0.24% of the total world population. The majority of the waste imported by the Netherlands comes from Europe, primarily from Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and France. However, the final destination of Dutch imported plastic waste is generally unknown and traceability is weak.

Alongside the estimate that 25% of plastic waste is traded illegally, there are notable gaps in the official data. Data from 2017, for instance, shows that a high percentage of Dutch plastic waste (both imported and nationally generated) went blatantly unreported and its whereabouts have remained a mystery to official sources. Experts from Rijkswaterstaat state: “We know that the data is not complete and that there are large gaps in it… we do not know what happens to the plastic waste streams… we cannot explain the differences between the figures from official sources” (interview with Circular Economy and Waste Advisor at Rijkswaterstaat, 2 June 2025). Furthermore, the Netherlands reported that plastic waste imports amount to more than 300% of its remaining domestic recycling capacity.

According to the Dutch Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT), illegally traded plastic waste usually leaves the country mixed with other materials or mislabelled as other types of goods, mostly second-hand items, virgin material, or already (partially) processed recyclable waste.

Although exports generally state that only recyclable plastic waste is exported outside Dutch borders, experts in this field state that more than 60% of the plastic waste imported by Türkiye is non-recyclable (interview with PhD in Marine Biology and expert in the international plastic waste trade, 4 April 2025). A worrying figure given that the country imported more than 33 million kilograms of Dutch plastic waste in 2024. Nonetheless, the low prices paid by Turkish importers make it profitable to export large quantities of plastic waste for very little money. Thus, even if the proportion of the cargo that can be recycled (and therefore holds positive economic value) is limited, they can still turn a profit. Yet Türkiye is not an isolated case and it is likely also happening in non-OECD countries, which in 2024 accounted for more than 40% of all Dutch plastic waste exports (see Figure 2). Basel Action Network (BAN) and Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) are NGOs currently working on this issue and periodically publishing reports on the matter.

Figure 2. Dutch plastic waste exports 2019-2024 based on ComTrade Data.

Why does the Netherlands import so much plastic waste?

This is due to two main factors:

Firstly, the Port of Rotterdam. This port in the south of the country is the busiest port in Europe and reportedly one of the primary points of departure for waste shipments leaving the European Union. Therefore, in many cases the Netherlands is not the final destination for this waste, but rather a transit hub en route to destinations outside the European Union. Approximately 40% of total Dutch plastic waste exports go to Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Türkiye. However, data on exact exports varies greatly between (official) sources. Moreover, containers often change ownership multiple times during their stay in the port, which further complicates the traceability of PW shipments. The circular economy & waste advisor at Rijkswaterstaat stated that his agency is unable to account for the discrepancy between sources: “The Port of Rotterdam is a black hole; we do not know what happens inside it, and Rijkswaterstaat is not in active communication with ILT, the port police, or customs”.

Figure 3. Dutch plastic waste exports 2020-2025. In this figure, elaborated by Basel Action Network (2025), the volume of monthly Dutch waste exports to different regions can be seen.

Secondly, despite the development of supplementary regulations on this matter, a lack of law enforcement ensures that both legal and illegal exports of plastic waste pass easily through the port without being inspected. In the Dutch case, law enforcement and government agencies agree that the risk profiling system, which determines whether a shipment is inspected, is ineffective and relies too heavily on criminals looking ‘suspicious’. Customs at the Port of Rotterdam carries out a total of 4,800 checks on waste shipments annually, of which only 13% are on plastic waste shipments. This amounts to just under an average of 2 checks per day of the year. Given the scale of the trade, this appears insufficient. Nevertheless, customs has so far refused to cooperate with this investigation.

Outlook

Meanwhile, the plastics market continues to grow at an accelerated pace, and European exports to non-OECD countries have grown by 36% over the past two years. Nevertheless, the situation has recently taken a turn. In May 2024, a new set of international rules was approved within the European Union: the Waste Shipment Regulation regarding transboundary shipments of waste. Enforcement of the new laws is estimated to begin in 2026. Previous legislation allowed exports of PW outside the OECD area to facilities that could demonstrate they managed their imports in an environmentally sound manner. However, the new regulatory framework will prohibit all exports of plastic outside the OECD area, with the aim of halting all shipments to Southeast Asia. Other measures include setting up an online international database of waste shipments to improve the traceability of traded waste. However, tighter regulations on the trade in PW with non-OECD countries have led to a diversion of shipments to Türkiye (which lies within the OECD area). Turkish imports of plastic waste have increased drastically in recent years (see Figure 2), as have the number and size of illegal dumpsites within the national territory.

Controversially, the European Union has relied heavily on outsourcing plastic waste beyond its borders and currently lacks the recycling capacity to keep up with managing its own domestic plastic waste. Moreover, in the Netherlands alone, 7 plastic recycling facilities closed down in 2024. More than ever, Dutch PW-exporting companies find themselves in a stranglehold. On the one hand, they hope that implementation of the Waste Shipment Regulation will be delayed (interview with CEO of the Netherlands' largest plastic waste exporter, 10 April 2025). On the other hand, there is no alternative destination or solution to continue exporting waste outside the OECD area, causing them to fear a market collapse. It is now up to Dutch law enforcement agencies to effectively implement the new regulations, better monitor legal shipments, and detect illegal shipments. At the same time, the crisis in the recycling sector underlines the need to drastically reduce PW production across all European Member States to be able to process their own waste. Therefore, prevention and reuse strategies must be scaled up to turn off the tap of plastic waste production. Furthermore, Europe must take responsibility for its own waste generation, rather than shifting problematic waste to other countries outside Europe.

Disclaimer: Out of respect for the privacy of our sources, Fair Resource Foundation has decided not to disclose the names of the participants interviewed for this study.