Container shipping business CMA CGM says it will stop transporting plastic waste abroad from June this year.
The Marseille-based carrier made the commitment during the One Ocean Summit, which took place in the French city of Brest, in February 2022.
Many companies ship their waste to developing countries to handle. CMA CGM shipped an estimated 50,000 twenty-foot equivalent units of plastic waste from developed countries to Southeast Asia in 2021 – approximately 500,000 tonnes.
According to the Plastic Pollution Coalition, an estimated 157,000 TEUs of plastic waste were sent from the US to countries with ‘poor waste management’ in 2018.