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Germany was largest exporter of plastic waste in 2025, sending 810,000 tonnes overseas, analysis finds
UK was close behind, exporting 675,000 tonnes, with much of the waste sent to Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia
Germany was the world’s largest exporter of plastic waste in 2025 and sent more than 810,000 tonnes abroad, according to analysis of trade data carried out for the Guardian.
The UK followed close behind, according to the analysis by Watershed Investigations and the Basel Action Network. It exported more 675,000 tonnes, its highest level in eight years and enough to fill about 127,000 shipping containers.
Much of the waste was sent to Turkey, followed by Malaysia, with Indonesia also a regular destination. Investigations have repeatedly linked the plastic recycling industry in these countries to environmental damage, illegal dumping and burning, and labour abuses.
Sedat Gündoğdu, a Turkish marine biologist who investigates plastic pollution, said: “The Turkish Mediterranean coast is the most polluted coast in the whole Mediterranean because of the plastic waste from the recycling factories. There’s huge amounts of microplastics – sometimes people can’t even get into the sea because of all the waste.”
Larger countries such as the US and China export less plastic waste partly because more is handled domestically, through landfill, incineration or recycling, and they are not subject to the same recycling target pressures as Europe and the UK, where exports can count towards official recycling rates. The US exported 385,000 tonnes in 2025, making it the world’s fifth biggest exporter, while in 2024 China was the 18th biggest exporter.
The EU has agreed to ban exports of plastic waste to countries outside the group of mostly rich OECD nations by November 2026, yet half is still being sent to those destinations. Much of the remainder goes to Turkey, now the largest recipients of European plastic waste.
With the ban approaching, there are concerns that all exports could be redirected to developing OECD countries such as Turkey, as well as parts of eastern Europe, which lack the capacity to manage higher volumes.
In Turkey, the waste infrastructure is already overwhelmed. Gündoğdu said: “The country generates 3.3m tonnes of plastic waste domestically, which is more than double our capacity to recycle.”
Sara Matthieu, an MEP for the Greens/European Free Alliance grouping, described the imminent export ban as a “watershed moment”, saying Europe was beginning to take responsibility for its own waste. However, she said that “due to attacks on green policies by conservatives and the far right” the EU’s capacity to recycle domestically had reduced by 1m tonnes in the last few years.
“The major problem is that freshly produced plastics are still much cheaper than reused and recycled materials. We have known about this market failure for years, but the EU Commission has mostly been asleep at the wheel [and] not tackling the root of the challenges,” Matthieu said.
A spokesperson for the EU Commission said: “In the last decade, uncontrolled trade in plastic waste has increased, damaging both the environment and public health. The rules on the export of plastic waste were further strengthened in the new waste shipment regulation, including a prohibition of such exports to non-OECD countries as from 21 November 2026. It affects around 0.5m tonnes of plastic waste.
