Is the Plastic Waste Trade a Barrier to Sustainable Development? Empirical Evidence From <scp>RCEP</scp> Countries

ABSTRACT There is widespread consensus on the threats that plastic waste poses to the environment. A significant obstacle to sustainable development, the trade in plastic waste may contribute to plastic pollution. The objective of this research is to look at how the import and export of plastic waste affect the sustainable development of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) countries. The research analyzed data from nine RCEP nations from 1992 to 2022, and the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) technique was employed for analysis. The study also investigated the impact of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, food security, and globalization on sustainable development in RCEP countries. The research used Hickel's (2020) Sustainable Development Index as a sustainable development metric. Panel Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) and Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) methods were adopted as robustness tests. Additionally, the research makes use of the Dumitrescu‐Hurlin panel causality test. The analysis reveals statistically significant results indicating that exports of plastic waste in RCEP nations negatively impact sustainable development at medium (0.50, 0.60) and high quantile levels (0.70, 0.80, 0.90). Furthermore, the research discovered that imports of plastic waste have a negative effect on sustainable development in RCEP nations; the results for medium (0.40, 0.50, 0.60) and high quantile levels (0.70, 0.80, 0.90) are statistically significant. The results demonstrate that the trade in plastic waste has a negative impact on RCEP nations' sustainable development. The results were taken into consideration while developing policy suggestions.