The secretive scrap plastic trade between Canada and the U.S.
About 26.9 million kilograms of plastic scrap crosses the border between the United States and Canada each month. Photo by Tom Fisk / Pexels
By Marc Fawcett-Atkinson
Every day, about 160 tractor-trailers full of plastic waste cross the border between Canada and the United States, with about half going in each direction. They are a key link in a scrap plastic trade worth $18.8 million, but few details exist about what happens to these shipments on either side of the border — it is unclear if they are recycled, dumped in a landfill, sent overseas or burned as fuel.
Now, environmental advocates are warning that more must be done to scrutinize the opaque trade. Without better transparency, they say, efforts by governments and companies to ensure their plastic waste doesn't end up in an incinerator or the environment will fail.
“The U.S. and Canada have traditionally allowed waste to flow quite freely between the two countries,” explained Fe de Leon, a researcher at the Canadian Environmental Law Association. “The only qualification is that ... the facility that is receiving needs to be able to process it, and that includes incineration (and) landfilling.”
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, Canadian companies exported largely high-value and easily recycled plastics like polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used to make pop bottles, for recycling in the U.S.
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