Business Research Proposal: The Political Economy of Global Plastic Waste Trade

Recommended Framework: Political Economy Analysis (PEA)

Framework Teaching

Applicability Explanation

Key Information to Collect for PEA

1. Structural Factors: The overarching economic, political, and social conditions in both exporting and importing countries (e.g., trade policies, environmental regulations, domestic recycling capacity, economic dependence).
2. Institutions: The formal rules (e.g., international treaties like the Basel Convention, national laws) and informal norms (e.g., corruption, business practices) that govern the waste trade.
3. Actors and Incentives: The key players involved (governments, private waste companies, brokers, local communities, NGOs) and what motivates them (profit, political pressure, social welfare, etc.).
4. Power and Relationships: How different actors influence policy and outcomes, and the sources of their power (e.g., economic leverage, regulatory authority, access to information, ability to mobilize).

Part 1: Information Collection

A. Web Search Plan

• Search Topics:
  1. Global Trade Flows: Use queries like "global plastic waste trade statistics 2024," "UN Comtrade plastic waste data," and "share of plastic waste exports by country" to map the physical movement of waste. Recent data shows a decline in overall global export volume, but a rise in regional trade, particularly within Europe and North America. The US, for instance, saw a slight decline in exports in 2024 but became a net importer of scrap plastic.
  2. Economic Drivers: Search for "economic incentives for plastic waste export," "cost of domestic recycling vs export," and "plastic waste as a commodity." This will help identify the financial motivations for both exporters and importers. For developed countries, exporting is often driven by cost savings, as domestic recycling is expensive due to high labor costs and strict regulations. For some developing countries, imported plastic waste can be an economic resource for local industry, associating with GDP growth, before it becomes an environmental burden.
  3. Regulatory & Institutional Frameworks: Use queries such as "Basel Convention plastic waste amendment," "effectiveness of national import bans Malaysia Vietnam," and "EU Waste Shipment Regulation." This will provide information on the formal rules governing the trade, including their loopholes and enforcement challenges.
  4. Impact Reports & Case Studies: Look for "environmental impact of waste dumping Southeast Asia," "health effects of informal plastic recycling," and "waste colonialism environmental justice." This will gather existing evidence of the consequences from sources like NGOs, academic studies, and news investigations.
  5. Corporate Role: Search for "multinational corporations role in plastic waste," and "corporate social responsibility plastic pollution." This helps identify key private sector actors and their influence.
• Purpose of Web Search: This step aims to build a foundational, macro-level understanding of the system's structure (structural factors and formal institutions). This data will serve as the backbone for your analysis, upon which you will layer the more nuanced, qualitative insights from interviews.

B. User Interview Plan

• Interview Subjects (by Actor Group):
  1. Policymakers & Regulators: Target officials in environmental and trade ministries in both exporting countries (e.g., Germany, US, UK) and key importing countries that have seen a surge post-2018 (e.g., Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia).
  2. Industry Players: Interview executives at major waste management/recycling corporations in exporting nations and managers of both formal and informal waste processing facilities in importing nations.
  3. Third-Party Experts: Engage with academics who have published on this topic, journalists who have reported on it, and representatives from international NGOs (e.g., Greenpeace, Environmental Investigation Agency, Basel Action Network).
  4. Local Communities: (Crucial for impact assessment) In partnership with local organizations, conduct interviews with community leaders, local health workers, and residents living near waste processing or dumpsites in affected countries.
• Interview Purpose: To uncover the "unwritten rules," incentives, and power dynamics that documents alone cannot reveal. This is where you will gather the critical information on actors, their real incentives, and the practical enforcement (or lack thereof) of institutions.
• Core Interview Questions (Customized for each group):
  • For a Regulator in an Importing Nation:
    • "Can you walk me through the typical process for approving a shipment of plastic waste, and where are the greatest pressures or influences in that process?" (Purpose: To map the decision-making chain and identify informal influence points.)
    • "Your government has announced a ban on plastic waste imports. What have been the biggest obstacles to fully implementing this policy?" (Purpose: To understand the gap between policy and reality, revealing countervailing economic or political pressures.)
  • For a Waste Company Executive in an Exporting Nation:
    • "What are the primary factors that make exporting plastic waste more economically viable than processing it domestically?" (Purpose: To get a candid view of the economic incentives.)
    • "How have international regulations, like the Basel Convention amendments, changed your business operations in practice?" (Purpose: To understand how powerful actors navigate and adapt to formal rules.)
  • For a Community Member near a Dumpsite:
    • "Can you describe how the presence of this waste facility has affected your daily life, your health, and your livelihood?" (Purpose: To gather firsthand testimony on the human and environmental consequences.)
    • "When problems arise (e.g., from smoke or water contamination), who do you feel you can turn to for help? What has been the response?" (Purpose: To assess the perceived powerlessness or agency of affected communities.)

Part 2: Information Analysis

1. Develop a System Map:
   • How-to: Use the web search data on trade flows to create a visual diagram. On one side, list the primary exporting countries. On the other, list the primary importing countries. Draw lines between them, with the thickness representing the volume of waste.
   • Analysis: Layer on the actors you've identified (e.g., major shipping lines, waste brokers, corporate producers of plastic). This visual map makes the complex system tangible and serves as a foundational chart for the rest of your analysis.
2. Conduct an Actor and Power Analysis:
   • How-to: Create a table of the key actors identified in your research (e.g., US Waste Exporter, Malaysian Regulator, Local NGO, etc.).
   • Analysis: For each actor, create columns for:
     • Stated Incentives: What they publicly claim motivates them (e.g., "providing recyclable material," "protecting the environment").
     • Inferred Incentives: What your interview and research data suggest truly drives them (e.g., profit margin, avoiding domestic landfill costs, political pressure from industry, community survival).
     • Sources of Power: What gives them leverage (e.g., economic capital, regulatory authority, moral authority, local knowledge, international legal frameworks).
   • Achieving the Output: By comparing the "power" columns, you will explicitly identify the imbalances. You can articulate, for example, how the economic power of exporters allows them to exploit the weaker regulatory enforcement capacity of importing nations.
3. Analyze Institutional Gaps:
   • How-to: Compare the "rules as written" (e.g., the text of the Basel Convention Plastic Waste Amendments) with the "rules in practice" (e.g., interview testimony about mislabeled shipments and illegal trafficking).
   • Analysis: Ask critical questions: Why does a shipment of mixed, contaminated plastic—which should be controlled—get through customs? Your interview data might point to corruption, lack of technical capacity for inspection, or economic pressure to accept the materials. This analysis reveals how power dynamics operate to bypass or weaken formal institutions.
4. Synthesize an Impact Assessment:
   • How-to: Combine the scientific and NGO reports from your web search with the powerful, personal stories from your community interviews.
   • Analysis: Structure this section of your report into clear categories:
     • Environmental Consequences: Soil contamination, water pollution, air pollution from open burning.
     • Health Consequences: Respiratory illnesses, skin conditions, and other issues reported by communities.
     • Socio-Economic & Ethical Consequences: Loss of agricultural land, child labor in waste picking, community conflicts, and the ethical dimension of "waste colonialism."
5. Identify Strategic Intervention Points:
   • How-to: Review your actor, power, and institutional analysis. Your goal is to find the points of greatest leverage.
   • Analysis: Instead of a generic recommendation like "better enforcement," your PEA will allow for more specific conclusions. For example:
     • If the weakness is a lack of inspection capacity, a leverage point is funding for technology and training at ports.
     • If the weakness is economic coercion, a leverage point is supporting coalitions of importing nations to strengthen their collective bargaining power.
     • If the core driver is the profitability of export, a leverage point is advocating for policies in exporting countries that make domestic processing cheaper or export more expensive (e.g., producer responsibility laws).