Interpol, the international police organization, says that criminal organizations have been illegally shipping waste to Southeast Asia.

According to an Interpol report published on August 28, illegal waste shipments sent to the region have been increasing significantly for the past two years.

The waste, much of it plastic, passes through "multiple transit countries" to camouflage the origins of the waste shipments, the report says.

The criminal organizations engage in a "significant use of counterfeit documents and fraudulent waste registrations," said Interpol, whose headquarters is located in Lyons, France.

A separate report from late last year showed how widespread the trafficking of plastic has become, with some plastic waste reaching Asia from Italy by way of its neighbor Slovenia.

Southeast Asian nations have been dealing with the challenges posed by plastic waste for several years. They've set goals for limiting its impact. But it's been difficult to implement these goals, largely because citizens in each country find plastic to be cheap and useful in bags, cups, straws, bottles, and other utensils.

The environmental impact of all of this has been huge. Plastic waste can be found scattered on beaches or in landfills but eventually ends up in rivers and oceans. Wild animals eat some of the discarded plastic, which they mistake for food and then die as a result of consuming it.