Tajikistan’s location

In February 2026, our international director visited Tajikistan together with expert Yuyun Ismawati of Nexus3 Foundation, to carry out a situational analysis on plastic waste and how to better address gender equality and inclusion of the needs and priorities of person in vulnerable situations. The study is part of the ongoing partnership with the secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (BRS) of the United Nations to document gender dimensions of chemical and waste policies, and develop training tools and policy recommendations.  

As part of the study, we visited private sector plastic producers and plastic waste collection companies. Virgin plastic (pellets) are imported from the Middle East mostly and then transformed into e.g. plastic pipes for construction, after adding certain chemicals for example again UV degradation. The production process which we visited had pollution reduction measures in place and was largely automated, thus with a limited health impact. The plastic waste collection site was a more informal venture, where waste collectors bring waste to be further sorted and compressed. Plastic bottles are one of the main waste streams. The bottles are compressed and transported and exported, for example to the Russian republic for recycling.  

We also visited local transit points, where neighbours bring their household waste to a container. These containers are ‘managed’ by low-income families, in this case a woman waste worker. She separates the waste at her container, often with support of her older children. While discussing with her, it became evident that it would help her to have more information about the potential pollution and health impacts, for example, that she should no longer burn waste at her workplace as this emits toxic fumes. Also using personnel protection equipment, such as gloves and masks, would be an important improvement.

When visiting the municipal waste dumpsite, we noted that unfortunately the waste is burning continuously, emitting toxic fumes that are a risk for the surrounding villages and the shepherd that graze their animals. Toxics from air pollution will enter into the milk and meat of the animals grazing around the municipal waste dumpsite. We also met children that entered the municipal waste site, even though legislation forbids children to enter such sites.

The visits of markets showed a very high share of single-use-plastic products being used in Tajikistan, including thin plastic bags, even though the government is trying to phase-out the use of such plastic bags (<50 microns). There seems to be no incentives to promote refillable water bottles and little awareness about the toxic health impacts of burning plastic waste. In rural areas the problem of plastic waste is a large problem, and measures are needed to introduce ‘reverse logistics’ to ensure plastic waste is returned from rural communities. Sector-wide systems for Extended Producer Responsibilities, starting with the plastic bottle sector, are urgent measures to introduce.

Regarding gender equality, opportunities exist on the one hand to support women entrepreneurship in producing alternatives to plastic products, and on the other hand, in organising community-based organisations to better manager plastic waste, especially in rural communities. Specific attention and support for women from Roma and migrant groups would be important to introduce, including training and active measures to formalize their waste collector activities.

The study was coordinated jointly with the Tajik Government’s Committee on Environmental Protection, who hosted a stakeholder meeting to exchange experience and knowledge with other ministries, agencies, civil society and the private sector. The civil society representative encouraged training for rural women on the risks from plastic waste, and incentives for safer plastic waste management. She noted that many women will ruse plastic packaging, and then expose the plastic to heat (hot liquids, hot food) but are unaware that by doing so harmful chemicals will leach into the food and drinks.

Expert Yuyun Ismawati presented during the stakeholder meeting the latest research data regarding plastic waste volumes, the harmful chemicals in plastics and their health impacts, and how gender roles are important to understand different pathways of contamination.

Expert Yuyun Ismawati explained that unfortunately for the majority of plastic products it is unknown if and what type of chemicals they contain. According to the United Nations BRS secretariat, about half of the chemicals used in plastics are of potential health concern, and a share of these are already banned or restricted under the global conventions.

The majority of the stakeholders were unaware that plastic can contain toxic chemicals, and numerous suggestions were given on how the work towards phasing out single use plastics and information waste workers and citizens, including with a focus on different gender roles. Stakeholders were also not aware of the existing global regulations to restrict harmful chemicals, including that exporting mixed waste to other countries is banned under the Basel Convention. Stakeholders were interested to learn more about good practices for managing plastic waste including on EPR and phasing out single use plastics, and overall in the global negotiations for a treaty to end plastic waste.

Several WECF network partners are working to address plastic waste in Tajikistan, and we were glad to meet with them as part of this study visit, including the colleagues of Little Earth, Youth Environment Organisation and BORDA water organisation.