Deep dive into the global primary plastic trade over the past thirty-five years and its policy implications

IF 12.4 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Xinlai Tan , Hongyan Zou , Zhong-Liang Wang , Jing Shui , Yidong Wang , Chang-Er Chen , Danyang Li , Dongmei Xue , Meng Hu , Zhanyun Wang
{"title":"Deep dive into the global primary plastic trade over the past thirty-five years and its policy implications","authors":"Xinlai Tan ,&nbsp;Hongyan Zou ,&nbsp;Zhong-Liang Wang ,&nbsp;Jing Shui ,&nbsp;Yidong Wang ,&nbsp;Chang-Er Chen ,&nbsp;Danyang Li ,&nbsp;Dongmei Xue ,&nbsp;Meng Hu ,&nbsp;Zhanyun Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.resenv.2025.100226","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>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.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34479,"journal":{"name":"Resources Environment and Sustainability","volume":"21 ","pages":"Article 100226"},"PeriodicalIF":12.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Resources Environment and Sustainability","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666916125000386","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

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.

Abstract Image

深入研究过去35年的全球初级塑料贸易及其政策影响
自中国的进口禁令以来,全球对塑料废物的国际贸易产生了兴趣,但对此类下游事件对初级塑料贸易的影响的关注有限。因此,本研究的重点是分析1988年至2022年全球初级塑料贸易,以了解不同事件对贸易的影响,并提供政策启示。具体而言,我们使用严格的方法来处理数据库中的数据报告问题,从联合国商品贸易数据库中重建相关贸易数据。结果显示,在过去的35年里,全球初级塑料的累计贸易额达到了3411亿吨。2017年之后,由于中国增加进口以缓解塑料废物进口禁令带来的原材料短缺,全球贸易得到了提振。由于中国需求萎缩,2022年全球初级塑料贸易出现了十年来的首次负增长。本研究还对当前的政策格局进行了详细的分析,迫切需要一个精心设计的政策框架,旨在实现整个塑料生命周期的可持续性。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
Resources Environment and Sustainability
Resources Environment and Sustainability Environmental Science-Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
CiteScore
15.10
自引率
0.00%
发文量
41
审稿时长
33 days
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信