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World Environment Day 2025 – #BeatPlasticPollution: WCO Member Customs administrations at the Heart of the Global Response

05 June 2025

5 June 2025 marks World Environment Day, the United Nations’ foremost platform for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment. This year’s theme, #BeatPlasticPollution, draws attention to one of the most urgent and pervasive global environmental challenges — plastic waste.

On this World Environment Day and in line with the WCO theme of the year “Customs Delivering on its Commitment to Efficiency, Security and Prosperity”, WCO Secretary General Ian Saunders calls for unified global action to #BeatPlasticPollution, saying:

“The global plastic pollution crisis demands collective and sustained responses. Customs administrations are uniquely placed to detect, intercept, and prevent the illegal trade in plastic waste. On this World Environment Day, as the Customs community, we must reaffirm our commitment to protect the environment and leverage the tools, knowledge, and operational networks developed by the WCO and its partners to support their actions.”

Illegal shipments of plastic waste threaten ecosystems, human health, and domestic waste management systems.

Data collected by the WCO indicates that plastic wastes continue to be illicitly shipped across borders, and the Customs community, under the leadership of the World Customs Organization (WCO), plays a pivotal role in confronting this crisis.

The WCO offers a multidimensional approach to support its 186 Members in enforcing environmental regulations addressing the illicit transboundary movement of plastic waste, based on the provisions of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.

It provides training, develops tools[1], facilitates intelligence-sharing, offers technical assistance, including on the development of domestic Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for waste shipments[2]. The WCO also helps Customs administrations to build relationships with the relevant national authorities and develop strategy and the related work plans with a holistic approach to the issue at hand.

The WCO also regularly organizes a global enforcement initiative focused on waste, the Operation DEMETER series, during which participating Customs administrations are requested to mobilize their resources. The objective is to assess their capacity to enforce procedures and conduct efficient risk analysis, enhance data exchange and cooperation, and share actionable intelligence. The operation DEMETER series has received financial support from China Customs. Operation DEMETER X, the latest in the series, recorded major seizures of non-compliant plastic and other waste shipments[3].

But not all trade in waste is illegal and there is significant legal trade in waste both for recycling or other uses, or for disposal. This trade can be critical in achieving sufficient volumes for the set-up and continuation of recycling facilities and contribute to beat plastic pollution.

It is important however to gain clarity on the legal trade in plastics and plastic wastes. To do so, we must increase this trade’s visibility under the WCO Harmonized System (HS). The HS is the global system that underlies domestic tariff schedules, providing for international classification of all the world’s trade goods into 5,387 unique HS codes. The level of detail on the waste trade that the HS data provides depends on how specific the relevant HS codes are. Gains in the visibility of certain types of waste have been made in recent editions of the HS, such as the inclusion of codes that separated out electrical and electronic waste in the 2022 edition. Recognizing the challenges plastics pose, the Contracting Parties to the HS have been looking at potential improvements for added visibility of the trade in plastics and plastic wastes for the next edition which will enter into force in January 2028.

[1] Deliverables of the WCO Asia-Pacific Plastic Waste (APPW) Project

[2] Guidelines for Customs Administrations for Developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for controls of waste shipments

[3] Operation Demeter X sheds light on the extent and trends of the trafficking of wastes and ozone depleting substances

Photos

  • 15 containers (360,000 kg), loaded with post-consumer plastic waste—including mixed plastics, textiles, rope, nylon, wood, diapers, paper, and metal—and lacking an approved notification were stopped by Belgium Customs at the Port of Antwerp.

    15 containers (360,000 kg), loaded with post-consumer plastic waste—including mixed plastics, textiles, rope, nylon, wood, diapers, paper, and metal—and lacking an approved notification were stopped by Belgium Customs at the Port of Antwerp.

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  • 15 containers (360,000 kg), loaded with post-consumer plastic waste—including mixed plastics, textiles, rope, nylon, wood, diapers, paper, and metal—and lacking an approved notification were stopped by Belgium Customs at the Port of Antwerp.

    15 containers (360,000 kg), loaded with post-consumer plastic waste—including mixed plastics, textiles, rope, nylon, wood, diapers, paper, and metal—and lacking an approved notification were stopped by Belgium Customs at the Port of Antwerp.

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  • 24.3 tonnes of plastic waste was detected by Netherlands Customs at export to Malaysia. Laboratory analysis confirmed misdeclaration of the consignment.

    24.3 tonnes of plastic waste was detected by Netherlands Customs at export to Malaysia. Laboratory analysis confirmed misdeclaration of the consignment.

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  • In April 2025, China Customs intercepted 79.1 tonnes of plastic waste at Huangdao Port. Although declared as PET roll film, the shipment was identified as plastic waste consisting of re-rolled and mixed scraps recovered during production or use.

    In April 2025, China Customs intercepted 79.1 tonnes of plastic waste at Huangdao Port. Although declared as PET roll film, the shipment was identified as plastic waste consisting of re-rolled and mixed scraps recovered during production or use.

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