On the Plastic Waste Route: Latin America Is the New Port of Destination

According to the US international Free Trade Database (USA Trade Online), between January and August 2020, approximately 44,173 tons of plastic waste arrived from the United States to 15 Latin American countries. That meant the shipment of approximately 35 containers per day to the region with these materials. This problem takes on greater importance following the entry into force of the Plastics Amendment to the Basel Convention, which seeks to regulate transboundary movements of plastics “that require special consideration,” but which have become an epidemic of humanity with devastating environmental impacts. Its implementation runs from January 2021. In the region, with not very encouraging results, governments are making some efforts to adapt their legislation to comply with the agreement, which brings together 187 countries. These actions are losing the race against the accelerated increase of plastic waste exports to Latin America. Organizations in the region have taken the lead in denouncing this situation, reporting a flow of materials of dubious origin and composition, which turn imports into a movement of toxic or difficult to manage waste from developed countries to those that are more impoverished or have weak legislation, configuring what organizations from the global south call waste colonialism.