Plastic waste trade and international agreements

Abstract This study investigates the impact of an international environmental agreement that requires prior notification from the country exporting plastic waste and approval from the country importing it. Using bilateral trade data from 2018 to 2022 and the difference-in-differences (DID) approach, we estimate the effect of the Basel Convention Plastic Waste Amendments (BCPWA) on the volume of plastic waste trade from developed to developing countries. We find that the plastic waste trade volume decreases by approximately 63.7% from developed to developing countries following the enforcement of the BCPWA. The findings suggest that an import licensing system and its enforcement could be effective in achieving international environmental agreements, even if it does not ban the import and export of waste. Our study highlights the importance of enforcement mechanisms in international environmental agreements and offers insights for policy design in future global resource management efforts.