MEPs agree to back plastic waste export bans

Published On: January 20, 2023

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted on Tuesday (17 January) to push for bans on plastic waste exports in upcoming negotiation with EU governments on new legislation which will revise EU procedures and control measures for waste shipments. The vote followed a plenary debate on Monday.

The proposed reform legislation hopes to ‘protect the environment and human health’ through circular and zero-pollution means. The vote agreed to push for a ban on all shipments of waste for disposal within the EU, except if authorised in limited and well-adjusted cases.

Rapporteur Pernille Weiss said that the new rules will ‘make it easier for us to combat waste crime inside and outside the EU’.