Japan plastic waste exports to Asia
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
Japan exported 683,000 tonnes of plastic waste in 2024, almost all of it to East and Southeast Asia. Japan's reported recycling rate counts a large share of that export.
Between 91.6% and 98.2% went to East and Southeast Asia (Japan Ministry of the Environment presentation).
Status As of 2025: exports continued to East and Southeast Asia; no ruling, penalty or independent assessment found.
- Japan — About two-thirds of its reported plastic material recycling came from exports in 2022.
What happened
In 2024 Japan exported 683,000 tonnes of plastic waste, according to a presentation by Japan's Ministry of the Environment. Between 91.6% and 98.2% of it went to East and Southeast Asia. Between 2021 and 2025, Malaysia's share of Japan's exports rose from 34% to 40% and Vietnam's from 26% to 29%.
The Basel Convention amendments on plastic waste were adopted at COP-14 (29 April to 10 May 2019) and entered into force on 1 January 2021. They created entries for plastic waste presumed hazardous, plastic waste presumed non-hazardous and almost free of contamination, and other plastic waste subject to prior informed consent. In Japan the amendment took effect in January 2021. Uncontaminated, single-resin waste falls outside the control regime, and the sorting rests on visual inspection.
Japan reports that 87% of its plastic waste is put to effective use. For 2022, the Plastic Waste Management Institute (PWMI), an industry association, gives the breakdown as 22% material recycling, 62% thermal recycling (incineration with energy recovery) and 7% incineration without energy recovery. About two-thirds of the plastic material recycling that Japan reports comes from exports (2022); around 2018 the share was about seven-tenths.
- 2018About 7/10 of reported plastic material recycling came from exports
- 2019Basel Convention plastic amendments adopted at COP-14
- 2021Amendments in force (1 January); Malaysia's share of Japan's plastic waste exports 34%, Vietnam's 26%
- 2022PWMI breakdown: 22% material, 62% thermal, 7% incineration without energy recovery; about 2/3 of reported material recycling from exports
- 2024Japan exports 683,000 t of plastic waste; 91.6–98.2% to East and Southeast Asia
- 2025Malaysia's share 40%, Vietnam's 29%
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
87% effectively used in 2022, counting thermal recycling (62%) and material recycling (22%).
Of the 87%, 62 points are incineration with energy recovery, and about two-thirds of material recycling comes from exports.
How it looked
Shown
- Japan recycles 87% of its plastic wasteFigure compiled by the Plastic Waste Management Institute, an industry association
Recorded
- 683,000 t of plastic waste exported in 2024; 91.6–98.2% to East and Southeast Asia
- 2022 breakdown: material recycling 22%, thermal recycling 62%, incineration without energy recovery 7%
- About two-thirds of reported plastic material recycling came from exports in 2022
- Basel plastic amendments in force from 1 January 2021
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.
Accounts
- Disputed Does Japan recycle 87% of its plastic waste?
Record
- None on record Damage to the environment or health in the receiving countries: not documented in the sources reviewed.
- None on record What happens to the exported plastic after arrival: not covered by the figures reviewed.
Did the harm stop?
Exports continued: 683,000 t in 2024, with Malaysia's and Vietnam's shares rising through 2025.
Who paid?
Not established in the sources reviewed; harm in receiving countries is not documented in them.
Sources
Government and regulators
- Japan: plastic waste exports (Asian Network workshop 2025, session 2)Ministry of the Environment, Japan · 2025
International bodies
- Basel Convention plastic waste amendments: overviewBasel Convention Secretariat · 2019