Let’s Talk About Recycling: The Impact of Western Waste on Developing Countries

We’ve all heard that recycling helps to combat climate change and that taking part in the various recycling programmes is a great way to help do our part to save the planet. Over the last decade, in the UK and other European countries, huge strides have been made to decrease the amount of waste we produce and increase the number of things we recycle in line with the European Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan, and a number of other waste management directives. But what happens to the things we send off to be recycled? In this post, we explore the not-so-hidden costs that Western recycling programmes have on developing countries.

Image by Calvin Sihongo, from Unsplash

Where does our recycling go?

Recycling is when used materials are collected, processed, and reused or repurposed. This can include breaking down and turning used materials into new products or cleaning up used materials, such as glass bottles, so that they can be used again as they are. Recycling can help us to:

• Save energy – it usually takes less energy to create new products from existing materials rather than from raw materials

• Reduce pollution – recycling products usually means that less waste ends up being burned in incinerators. Less burning means fewer harmful pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions are released into the atmosphere

• Conserve resources – many of the raw materials we have on Earth are finite or are being used up at a faster rate than they can be produced. Recycling means that we can use fewer raw materials when creating new products

Not all materials are recycled equally, and different types of materials need to be recycled in different ways; some materials are harder/take more skills or resources to recycle than others. This includes electronic waste, clothing made of synthetic and mixed fabrics, and some forms of plastic.

Image by Nick Fewings, from Unsplash

Recycling is usually done in recycling plants or centres, and there are around 5,300 of them in the UK. However, this is not enough to meet demand. According to the 2025 UK Statistics on Waste report from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the amount of household waste we recycle increased from 11.32 million tonnes in 2022 to 11.55 million tonnes in 2023, an increase of around 230,000 tonnes of recyclable waste over 1 year. Although increasing our recycling rate is an overall positive step for the UK, as it means that less waste is sent to landfills, the current recycling infrastructure is struggling with the surplus. So, what do we do with the waste we can’t recycle?

For years, the UK has been selling and exporting excess waste to developing countries in the Global South to be recycled or otherwise disposed of. Waste such as hard-to-recycle plastic, clothing & textiles, and electronic waste have been sent to Malaysia, Pakistan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Türkiye (formerly Turkey), and a host of African countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya. Millions of tons of waste are exported to these developing countries, even though many of them lack the necessary infrastructure to properly recycle the huge amount of waste sent to them. As a result, this waste often ends up in landfills or incinerators, where it contributes to the pollution of beaches, bodies of water, and the atmosphere, damaging ecosystems and negatively impacting the health of local communities.

In recent years, the UK and other European countries have begun to recognise the harm caused by sending waste to other countries to deal with. This has led to the development of strategies, such as the Circular Economy Action Plan, to completely ban the amount of plastic waste sent to developing countries by 2030. However, progress is extremely slow, and the UK, alongside many other countries in the Global North, has been defending and continuing the practice despite partial bans currently in effect.

Image by OCG Saving The Ocean, from Unsplash

What can we do about it?

Minimising the impact of Western waste on developing countries needs collective and political action. For those of us who live in developing countries affected by harmful waste management, this can look like banding together to clean up polluted areas or even petitioning governments to fight back against developed countries. Some countries, like Malaysia, have begun returning contaminated recycling to the countries that they were exported from. In 2019, the Malaysian environment minister announced that the move was necessary to stop Malaysia from becoming a ‘dumping ground’ for waste from developed countries. If other developing countries followed Malaysia’s lead, it may help to encourage developed countries to take more ownership over their own waste.

For those of us who live in the Global North, our individual actions may have limited effects; however, it is important to remember that ‘every little helps’. Until much-needed policy changes come into effect, we can:

• Continue to campaign for political action – there are many organisations around the world, such as Greenpeace, that are dedicated to advocating for political action to help reduce the impact of environmentally harmful practices. There are loads of ways to get involved, such as signing petitions like this one to encourage the Ghanaian president to ban the import of European textile waste, volunteering, donating, or joining a protest.

• Be mindful of our waste production and consumption habits – we can all do our best to minimise our individual waste production by buying fewer new products, avoiding single-use plastic where possible, opting for things made with natural or sustainable materials, and taking care of what we already have. Repurposing empty containers/upcycling, shopping at low/zero-waste stores if possible, and picking up skills like repairing your clothes can help. While these options can also help to save you money down the line, it is important to note that starting out your low-waste/sustainability journey can be an expensive investment. Using something like the ‘cost-per-use’ rule can help you evaluate the cost-effectiveness of a purchase before you make it.

• Look out for and try to avoid ‘Greenwashing’– over the last decade, in line with the push to encourage people to recycle more, many recycling schemes have popped up across the UK. Popular ones include the Primark ‘Re-Loved’ and H&M Garment Collecting & Recycling programmes, and the Recycle at Boots scheme, where you hand in clothes or empty containers in-store to be recycled in exchange for a voucher. Many brands also started marketing themselves or certain products as environmentally friendly. Unfortunately, not all of these recycling programmes have been living up to their claims – this is known as ‘greenwashing’. It can be hard to spot when companies are greenwashing; however, this article from Greenpeace has some tips on how to identify and avoid it.

• Try to ensure that you are recycling properly and avoid ‘wish-cycling’ – not everything can be recycled, and many items can only be recycled if they meet very strict requirements. If the things you want to recycle are not clean and dry, they may contaminate other materials. This may result in previously recyclable waste ending up in a landfill. A common example of this is when pizza boxes, which have been stained with oil, are recycled with other cardboard/paper materials. Each country and region has its own rules and regulations for recycling, so look out for that and try to stick to them as much as possible. It may also be helpful to know what the different recycling symbols mean on your products to make sure that you are recycling them properly.

In conclusion, recycling is much more complex than we might think. Not everything we throw away can be recycled, and some things are harder to recycle than others. For many years, developed countries have been sending millions of tons of excess waste to developing countries to be ‘recycled’ or disposed of. However, as many of these countries lack the necessary infrastructure to properly recycle the large amounts of waste they receive, much of it ends up in landfills or incinerators, resulting in widespread pollution. Minimising the impact of these harmful waste management practices on developing countries needs collective and political action. We can help by being mindful of our waste production where we can and advocating for policy changes. As individuals, the effects of our actions may be small, but if we work together, we can help to make a difference.

By Esther Ansah, Blog Writer