Page 62 - Plastics News July 2025
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
31.6 million pounds of PE, 21.3 million pounds of Scrap plastic brokers have reported significant
PET, 24.5 million pounds of plastic categorized disruption in shipping into Malaysia in recent
as “other,” and smaller fractions of PVC and PS weeks. Steve Wong, CEO of plastics broker-
making up the rest. age Fukutomi, wrote in a June 20 market up-
date that the “scrap plastics market in Malaysia
Beyond the U.S. ban, Basel-party countries will has come to a virtual standstill amid tightening
have to follow Basel criteria to have shipments import regulations and widespread uncertainty
approved. That means mixed loads can only ahead of the new control regime taking effect
contain mixtures of PE, PET and PP, and all oth- on 1 July 2025.”
er resins must be shipped in homogenous loads.
The guidelines define homogenous as reaching Recycling companies and brokers are reporting
at least 99.5% purity. “minimal or no movement” of scrap plastics,
The changes come more than four years after “Furthermore, Malaysia has banned all plastic
the Basel Convention was amended to regu- waste imports from the United States, citing the
late scrap plastic shipments, throwing a wrench country’s non-party status under the Basel Con-
in the common U.S. e-scrap industry practice vention,” he added, noting this shift has “disrupt-
of exporting the plastic fractions of end-of-life ed supply chains significantly.”
electronics, historically to southeast Asia. Each
country that is party to the Convention must en- “With scrap inventories building up at ports and
act the Basel rules by adopting domestic regula- yards, and no clear guidance yet on the enforce-
tions that comply. ment discretion or timeline of Malaysia’s new
system, the market for imported plastic waste
BAN this week applauded the Malaysian govern- has effectively frozen,” Wong wrote. “Unless
ment for the new import regulations. clarity improves and some regulatory relief is
granted, both importers and overseas suppliers
“We are ecstatic that this new law aims to stop will remain stuck, unable to execute trades or
much of the harmful plastic waste moving in shift material.”
containers each day from Los Angeles to Port
Klang under the guise of recycling,” Jim Puckett, Source – RESOURCE RECYCLING
founder and chief of strategic direction for BAN,
said in a release. Puckett described the concept
of exporting plastic for recycling as “a complete
sham,” and said it is “a relief that the U.S. contri-
bution to this plastic waste shell game is increas-
ingly outlawed.”
62 PLASTICS NEWS July 2025
