The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) is a worldwide alliance of more than 800 grassroots groups, non-governmental organizations, and individuals in over 90 countries whose ultimate vision is a just, toxic-free world without incineration.
One of GAIA’s many areas of focus is waste trade. Recycling is not enough to solve the plastic problem, and GAIA has observed that the global trade in plastic waste is actually a major impediment to the prevention of plastic pollution.
With the Recycling and Waste Trade Research Project, GAIA is undertaking the first step towards challenging plastics trade and its resulting pollution, which is to gather research that will enable a better understanding of the international flow of plastics. Armed with new and robust data on the current flows of plastics waste globally (and on the state of recycling practices in plastic-importing and -exporting countries), GAIA will be able to develop and recommend strategic campaigns for the Break Free from Plastics movement. This project will ultimately result in a common global position on plastic recycling standards that advocates for the redesign of problematic products and emphasizes the reduction of plastic trade and its consequential pollution.
