Deep dive into the global primary plastic trade over the past thirty-five years and its policy implications
Since China’s import ban, there has been a stimulated global interest in the international trade of plastic wastes, but with a limited focus on the impact of such downstream events on the trade of primary plastics. Thus, this study focuses on analyzing the global trade of primary plastics from 1988...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-09-01
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| Series: | Resources, Environment and Sustainability |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666916125000386 |
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| author | Xinlai Tan Hongyan Zou Zhong-Liang Wang Jing Shui Yidong Wang Chang-Er Chen Danyang Li Dongmei Xue Meng Hu Zhanyun Wang |
| author_facet | Xinlai Tan Hongyan Zou Zhong-Liang Wang Jing Shui Yidong Wang Chang-Er Chen Danyang Li Dongmei Xue Meng Hu Zhanyun Wang |
| author_sort | Xinlai Tan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Since China’s import ban, there has been a stimulated global interest in the international trade of plastic wastes, but with a limited focus on the impact of such downstream events on the trade of primary plastics. Thus, this study focuses on analyzing the global trade of primary plastics from 1988 to 2022 to understand the effects of different events on the trade and offer policy implications. Specifically, we reconstruct relevant trade data from the UN Comtrade database using a rigorous method to handle data reporting issues in the database. The results show that the cumulative global trade of primary plastics reached 3,411 megatonnes over the past 35 years. The global trade boosted after 2017 as a result of China’s increasing import to mitigate the raw material shortages brought by its import ban of plastic wastes. A first negative growth of the global primary plastic trade in a decade showed up in 2022 due to China’s shrinking demand. This study also offers a detailed analysis about the current policy landscape, urgently calling for a well-designed policy framework aiming at sustainability throughout the entire plastic life cycle. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fee43497bc89435399c88f5184d39fa2 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2666-9161 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Resources, Environment and Sustainability |
| spelling | doaj-art-fee43497bc89435399c88f5184d39fa22025-08-20T02:26:55ZengElsevierResources, Environment and Sustainability2666-91612025-09-012110022610.1016/j.resenv.2025.100226Deep dive into the global primary plastic trade over the past thirty-five years and its policy implicationsXinlai Tan0Hongyan Zou1Zhong-Liang Wang2Jing Shui3Yidong Wang4Chang-Er Chen5Danyang Li6Dongmei Xue7Meng Hu8Zhanyun Wang9Tianjin Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Tianjin Normal University, 300387 Tianjin, PR ChinaTianjin Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Tianjin Normal University, 300387 Tianjin, PR China; Corresponding authors.Tianjin Key Laboratory of Aquatic Science and Technology, Tianjin Chengjian University, 300384 Tianjin, PR ChinaShanghai International Travel Healthcare Center (Shanghai Customs Port Clinic, 200335 Shanghai, PR ChinaTianjin Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Tianjin Normal University, 300387 Tianjin, PR ChinaEnvironmental Research Institute/School of Environment, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, 510006 Guangzhou, PR ChinaTianjin Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Tianjin Normal University, 300387 Tianjin, PR ChinaTianjin Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Tianjin Normal University, 300387 Tianjin, PR ChinaKey Laboratory of Forensic Toxicology of Ministry of Public Security, Shanxi Medical University, 030600 Jinzhong, PR ChinaEmpa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Technology and Society Laboratory, 9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland; Corresponding authors.Since China’s import ban, there has been a stimulated global interest in the international trade of plastic wastes, but with a limited focus on the impact of such downstream events on the trade of primary plastics. Thus, this study focuses on analyzing the global trade of primary plastics from 1988 to 2022 to understand the effects of different events on the trade and offer policy implications. Specifically, we reconstruct relevant trade data from the UN Comtrade database using a rigorous method to handle data reporting issues in the database. The results show that the cumulative global trade of primary plastics reached 3,411 megatonnes over the past 35 years. The global trade boosted after 2017 as a result of China’s increasing import to mitigate the raw material shortages brought by its import ban of plastic wastes. A first negative growth of the global primary plastic trade in a decade showed up in 2022 due to China’s shrinking demand. This study also offers a detailed analysis about the current policy landscape, urgently calling for a well-designed policy framework aiming at sustainability throughout the entire plastic life cycle.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666916125000386Primary plasticsGlobal trade flowsChina’s import banEnvironmental policies |
| spellingShingle | Xinlai Tan Hongyan Zou Zhong-Liang Wang Jing Shui Yidong Wang Chang-Er Chen Danyang Li Dongmei Xue Meng Hu Zhanyun Wang Deep dive into the global primary plastic trade over the past thirty-five years and its policy implications Resources, Environment and Sustainability Primary plastics Global trade flows China’s import ban Environmental policies |
| title | Deep dive into the global primary plastic trade over the past thirty-five years and its policy implications |
| title_full | Deep dive into the global primary plastic trade over the past thirty-five years and its policy implications |
| title_fullStr | Deep dive into the global primary plastic trade over the past thirty-five years and its policy implications |
| title_full_unstemmed | Deep dive into the global primary plastic trade over the past thirty-five years and its policy implications |
| title_short | Deep dive into the global primary plastic trade over the past thirty-five years and its policy implications |
| title_sort | deep dive into the global primary plastic trade over the past thirty five years and its policy implications |
| topic | Primary plastics Global trade flows China’s import ban Environmental policies |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666916125000386 |
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