07 November 2023

Press Release

For immediate release

Lifetime cost of plastic 10 times higher for low-income countries than rich ones, WWF report finds

New report estimates low-income countries, despite consuming less plastic, incur a total lifetime plastic cost that is 10 times higher than wealthier countries.
The structural inequities built into the current plastics value chain not only distribute the burdens of plastic pollution unequally among countries, the burdens are also disproportionately borne by those least equipped to remedy them, thereby worsening the crisis.
WWF calls on all governments to agree on a treaty with harmonised, binding global rules that can remove inequities reinforced and exacerbated through our current take, make, and waste plastics system

A WWF-commissioned report developed by Dalberg warns that the true cost of plastic on the environment, health and economies can be as much as 10 times higher for low-income countries, even though they consume almost three times less plastic per-capita, than high-income ones.

The report estimates that the total lifetime costs of a kilogram of plastic is around US$150 in low- and middle-income countries, which is eight times the US$19/kilogram incurred by high-income countries. When comparing just low-income countries and their wealthier counterparts, the cost differential rises to 10 times with low-income countries hit with costs of US$200 a kilogram.

These unequal costs have substantial implications for low- and middle-income countries like Kenya, where negotiators will converge from 13-19 November for the third negotiations of the global treaty to end plastic pollution. Six years ago, Kenya took a bold step against plastic pollution by banning single-use plastic bags. Today, the country continues to struggle with illegal imports of single-use plastic bags, highlighting the problem’s transboundary nature and the crippling inequities inherent in the current plastics value chain that put countries like Kenya at a disadvantage no matter what bold action they take.

Paula Chin, Senior Policy Advisor at WWF-UK, said:

“Plastic pollution continues to be one of the most visible signs of the environmental crisis we’re facing. But this report highlights the other face of the problem – an unfair system where the burdens fall on communities that are least empowered to remedy them.

“A treaty that relies on individual government decisions will just take us back to where we were – divided and unable to stem the onslaught of plastic pollution.

“We have a duty to protect the most vulnerable communities who have no power to change the system. We need collective action to deliver benefit for all of us.

“Countries must dial up ambition and finalise a treaty with harmonised and binding global rules if we are to achieve an equitable plastic value chain and want a future free from plastic pollution.”

The report finds that low- and middle-income countries bear a disproportionately large burden of the costs associated with plastic pollution as a direct result of three structural inequities that reinforce the current plastics system. 

The first inequity is that the system places low- and middle-income countries at a disadvantage in that they have minimal influence on which plastic products are produced and how they are designed and yet are often expected to manage these products once they reach their end-of-life.

Product and system design considerations are typically made further upstream  in countries with extensive plastic production and by multinational companies headquartered in high-income countries.

As of 2019, only 9% of plastic waste is being recycled. Currently, around 60% of global plastic production is for single-use products, which are designed to be (and so cheaply valued that they can be) thrown away after just one use. 

The second inequity is that the rate of plastic production, particularly for single-use plastic, is far outpacing the availability of technical and financial resources for waste management when it reaches its end-of-life in low- and middle-income countries.

Without reducing plastic production and consumption, low- and middle-income countries will continue to bear the highest burden of plastic pollution’s direct environmental and socio-economic impacts. 

The third inequity is that the system lacks a fair way for holding countries and companies to account for their action, or inaction, on plastic pollution and its impact on our health, environment and economy (for example, through mandatory extended producer responsibility schemes in each of the countries they operate in).

With no common obligations across all jurisdictions and companies for supporting a circular, just and non-toxic plastics economy, low- and middle-income countries end up paying the steeper price. 

Establishing and implementing a UN global plastic pollution treaty based on harmonized and binding global rules can help us create a fairer system that empowers low- and middle-income countries and prioritises the most effective and efficient solutions.

An example of such a rule would be regulating the most high-risk plastic products, polymers and chemicals - those that can cause the most harm or are most likely to cause pollution - so that we can lessen the strain on countries, especially those with fewer resources, in managing plastic waste.

Similarly, the opportunity to create global product design rules can help to ensure that products are designed to be reused and/or recycled regardless of which country they are produced or used in.

This month, countries will join the third of five negotiating sessions on a global treaty to end plastic pollution. WWF calls on all governments to agree on a treaty that includes:

Banning, phasing out or phasing down high-risk and avoidable plastic products, polymers and chemicals of concern.
Global requirements for product design and systems that can secure a safe and non-toxic circular economy, which prioritizes reuse and improvements in recycling.
Robust measures for supporting considered and effective implementation that includes sufficient financial support and alignment of public and private financial flows, particularly for low- and middle-income countries.

ENDS

Notes to editors

The report “Who Pays for Plastic Pollution? Enabling Global Equity in the Plastic Value Chain” will be published here. For an advance look at the report (under embargo), click here.

How is the “true cost” of plastic calculated: The ‘true cost’ of plastic is based on a model devised by experts at WWF and Dalberg that considers the minimum lifetime cost of both upstream production and downstream waste management, and compares these costs between high, middle and low-income countries as of data from 2019.

While many of the costs cannot be quantified, reflecting the gaps in available data and understanding of the full impact of plastic pollution, it does include quantifiable costs such as the cost of producing virgin plastic, greenhouse gas emission costs, costs on ecosystem services of marine ecosystems and direct waste management costs. 

Though presented as ‘monetary costs’ of one kilo of plastic, it’s important to note that countries do not actually pay these costs, the costs are used as an indication of the disproportionate burdens plastic poses on countries with different national incomes.

The multiplier of eight and 10 are predominantly linked to the mismanagement of plastic waste and costs to the marine environments. Wealthier countries for example often displace and reduce their waste management costs by exporting their plastic waste to lower-income countries to process.

The total lifetime cost for one kilogram block of plastic waste in a high-income country for example, is US$19, compared to eight times that for middle and lower-income countries at an average of US$150, and 10 times that for lower-income countries, at US$200.

When we compare costs across lifetime marine ecosystem services, and how plastic leakage impacts these, it yields a cost of US$149 for low and middle-income countries compared to US$17 for high-income countries. Even still, the true impact borne by low and middle-income countries from plastic pollution is likely to be far greater.

The third session of the UN’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop a globally binding treaty on plastic pollution (INC-3) will run from 13-19 November in Nairobi, Kenya.

For a briefing note on what to expect from INC-3, and what WWF would like to see the negotiations accomplish, click here. 
For an explainer on the Zero Draft, the first version of the treaty text that will form the basis of the upcoming negotiations, click here.
For WWF’s Global Plastic Navigator, a platform for tracking countries’ positions on the inclusion of global bans and phase-out requirements for certain plastic categories of concern in the global treaty to end plastic pollution, click here.

From the report - selected case studies by region:

Latin America

Brazil: Marine and terrestrial impacts of plastic pollution 

More than 10 million tonnes of plastic enter the Brazilian domestic market each year.
In addition, Brazil imports 12,000 tonnes of plastic waste each year, a rate that grows by 7% annually. As waste imports increase, so does the amount of waste that is being mismanaged. If current trends continue, Brazil could become the 4th largest generator of mismanaged plastic waste.
The growing rate of plastic pollution in Brazil results from system gaps, in particular limited infrastructure and capacity for waste collection and recycling. Only 22% of cities in Brazil collect waste for recycling 
Brazil’s precious coastal ecosystems, wildlife and communities bear the greatest brunt. And pollution is now threatening the Amazon Basin.

Africa

Kenya: Efforts to reduce pollution hampered by absence of global regulation

Kenya banned single-use plastic bags in 2017 in a bold step to reduce plastic pollution, but a lack of similar rules in neighbouring countries has resulted in plastic bags piling up in Kenya.
Plastic bags continue to pollute Kenya through porous borders which give way to the smuggling of the bags in shipments of plastic materials exempt from the ban, like packaging products.
Six years after the ban, plastic bags are piling up in Kenya’s Dadach Boshe dump. Locals have reported the deaths of goats from swollen stomachs and fatal health issues caused by the ingestion of plastic bags.

Asia Pacific

Fiji: Structural barriers in waste management 

Tourists, who arrive in the small island state of Fiji, generate seven times more plastic waste per person per day than Fiji’s residents. 
Despite developing environmental legislation and strategies for waste management, Fiji’s capacity constraints (small economic scale and workforce) has meant that only one of its eight disposal sites satisfy current environmental standards, resulting in a plastic leakage rate of 25%, or nearly 4,000 tonnes of plastic pollution each year, equivalent to filling 80 swimming pools with 500ml plastic bottles. 
In addition, Fiji’s remote location, limited scale and a lack of investment mean that Fiji has struggled to establish viable recycling markets and is seeing an increased reliance on burning its waste or filling up its landfills.