Have you heard of HS-3915? It's the code used by the UN data on global waste trade to indicate the total volume of plastics traded globally, comprised of plastic waste, parings, and scrap.

The new International Pollutant Elimination Network (IPEN) report argues that this HS-3915 category of the UN data on global waste trade misses out on the substantial portion of plastics waste, since it excludes plastic components in other waste categories.

Discarded clothing is one example - of which 60-70% are made out of some kind of plastics - and paper bales another - which may contain 5-30% of plastics which must be removed and discarded before recycling.

As a whole, such 'hidden figures' in global waste trade data can lead to a whopping 1.8 million metric tonnes of underestimation of plastic waste, annually. Majority of these arise from the streams of waste exported from the developed countries like the US, UK, Japan, and EU countries to developing countries, paralysing their waste management infrastructure.

As the communities in SIDS and beyond focus on equipping themselves with better waste management systems, how can we match this effort by more efficiently tracking the global waste streams, holding the waste exporting countries accountable?