U.S. Scrap Plastic Exports to India Hit Historic Low

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Southeast Asian countries reported dramatic decline in imports of U.S scrap plastic. The most recent data for the month of October 2019, published by the U.S. Census Bureau, suggests that Indian scrap plastic imports from the U.S. dropped to the lowest level ever.

ALSO READ: U.S. Scrap Plastic Exports See Dramatic Decline

According to data, the U.S. scrap plastic exports to India totalled 2.3 million pounds in October this year. This is significantly down when compared with the prior month as well as the same month a year before. The cumulative imports of the material by India totalled 181.6 million pounds in the initial ten-month period of the year, which is down significantly by 27% when matched with Jan-Oct ’18.

It must be noted that Indian government had implemented ban on scrap plastic imports, covering most plastics including PET, PE, PP and PS, effective August 31, 2019. Accordingly, many shipping companies had cut off solid plastic waste shipments to India after July 10, 2019.

Other Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia too had imposed strict restrictions on plastic waste imports.