ASEAN
Vietnam Plus reported in September 2022 that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the UN Office for Project Services have agreed to work on a joint project to “combat” marine plastic pollution. “The five-year project aims to reduce plastic consumption, increase recycling, and minimize leakages to prevent land and sea-based marine plastic pollution.” The Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA), which includes many of the same nations as ASEAN, on October 13, 2022, “also agreed to take urgent actions and seek effective solutions to deal with plastic pollution and challenges to marine and coastal ecological systems at present and in the future.”
ASEAN is composed of ten countries in the region including Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore, which have also individually acted on plastics and chemical pollution in recent months.
Thailand
According to reporting from the Bangkok Post, Thailand plans to ban imports of plastic scrap by 2025. The ban will come in three phases: (i) beginning in 2023, companies cannot import more than their production capacity, (ii) in 2024 that will be cut to 50% of their production capacity, and (iii) in 2025 all imports will be banned. Thailand has been working to decrease plastic waste in the last few years, including via a campaign against plastic bags and banning single use plastics in national parks (FPF reported). The Bangkok Post reports that plastic bag use is down 43% in the last two years due to these and other efforts (FPF reported, also here).
While limiting import of plastic waste from other countries can help reduce the amount of plastic pollution into waterways, much of the waste is also generated domestically.
Indonesia
Research by Mega Mutiara Sari from Universitas Pertamina, Indonesia and colleagues recently published results from their survey of riverine pollution in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Sari et al found that three-quarters of litter within Jakarta’s rivers were plastic. Mongabay reports that plastic bags were the most common plastic waste item found “followed by PET bottles, food packaging, beverage cups, drinking straws, and Styrofoam containers.” The city of Jakarta banned plastic bags in 2020, but the research authors write that “monitoring and implementation is hard to do.”
Vietnam
In July 2022, the World Bank published a report outlining “the sources and pathways of plastic pollution in Vietnam.” The World Bank surveyed 24 river sites and 14 coastal areas in 10 regions. It reported that “more than 60% of plastic items are single use plastics”, and 44% of plastic waste items were from takeaway food packaging alone.
The report encourages the gradual phase out of single-use plastic products, and plastic products more generally, across Vietnam, especially in hospitality, tourism, and retail “where most of the identified single-use plastics are consumed.”
The Vietnam Chemicals Agency also recently put restrictions on six persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to bring the nation in line with the aims of the Stockholm Convention: pentachlorobenzene (CAS 608-93-5), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD, CAS 25637-99-4), polychlorinated naphthalene (PCN, CAS 90-13-1 among others), decabromodiphenyl ether (DBDE, decaBDE, CAS 1163-19-5); perfludrooctanoic acid (PFOA, CAS 335-67-1); and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS, CAS 355-46-4).
Singapore
In late September, Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) also prohibited the import and export of decaBDE, PFOA, and PFHxS except in the few cases allowed under the Stockholm Convention. NEA also announced that five chemicals will be officially classified as hazardous beginning March 1, 2023. Three of these five chemicals have been officially used in food contact applications or measured in migrates or extracts: nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates (CAS 25154-52-3); dechlorane plus (an isomer was measured migrating into a food simulant, CAS 13560-89-9); and UV-328 (CAS 25973-55-1).
Concerning food packaging specifically, NEA is considering a deposit return scheme for plastic and metal drinks containers. Each pre-bottled drink would have an extra 10 or 20 cent fee which consumers could get back when returning bottles to some sort of reverse vending machine. The return points would be inside any grocery store with more than 200 square meters of floor space.
Philippines
In July 2022, the Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022 came into effect in the Philippines. The law requires companies with assets over 1 billion Philippine Pesos to recover an increasing percentage of their plastic packaging waste over the next few years. “Recovery” includes buy backs, setting up collection points, public clean ups, or establishment of recycling, composting, or other waste facilities. By December 31, 2023, companies must recover 20% of their plastic footprint from the year before, and this increases by ten percent each subsequent year until mandating 80% recovery by the end of 2028.
In August 2021, the Philippines House of Representatives passed a ban on many single-use plastic products (FPF reported) including straws and stir sticks, which the country’s National Solid Waste Management Commission had officially designated as “non-environmentally acceptable products.” However, according to reporting from Rappler, there has been no initiative by the Philippine government to actually act upon this designation. The article explains that “since the passage of RA 9003 in 2001, the commission has not listed and phased out any non-environmentally acceptable products (NEAP), despite the mandate to do so within a year of the law’s effectivity.”
References
Vietnam Plus (October 25, 2022). “East Asian nations commit to dealing with plastic pollution at sea.”
Vietnam Plus (September 16, 2022). “ASEAN, UNOPS cooperates in fighting marine plastic pollution.”
Apinya Wipatayotin (September 19, 2022). “Plastic ban to be done in phases.” Bangkok Post
Basten Gokkon (August 29, 2022). “Three-fourths of waste in Jakarta’s notoriously polluted rivers is plastic.” Mongabay
Sari, MM. et al. (September 2022). “Plastic pollution in the surface water in Jakarta, Indonesia.” DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114023. Marine Pollution Bulletin
The World Bank (July 25, 2022). “Towards a national single use plastics roadmap in Vietnam: strategies and options for reducing priority single-use plastics.”
Alexandra Warren (October 27, 2022). “Vietnam updates chemicals law implementation rules.” Chemical Watch
Girija Shettar (October 28, 2022). “Singapore to impose licensing requirements on 26 chemicals.” Chemical Watch
Low Youjin (September 21, 2022). “NEA’s proposed recycling scheme for drink bottles and cans ‘good in theory’ but execution will be tricky, consumers say.” today
Pia Ranada (July 27, 2022). “Everything you need to know about the Philippines’ Extended Producer Responsibility law.” Rappler
Jhesset O. Enano (October 12, 2022). “A year on, proposed ban on straws, stirrers at standstill.” Rappler
Read more
Aaron Raj. (October 25, 2022). “More ASEAN businesses are prioritising sustainability in their digital transformation.” TechWire Asia
Megan Quinn (October 5, 2022). “Thailand to ban plastic scrap imports in 2025, following multiple other Asian countries.” Waste Dive
Vietnam Plus (July 28, 2022). “Take-away food packaging makes up 44% of plastic waste in Vietnam: WB survey.”
Vietnam Plus (August 15, 2022). “Producers to be subject to recycling obligations.”
Vietnam Plus (September 7, 2022). “Vietnam takes bold action to tackle plastic waste.”
Bella Cariaso (October 15, 2022). “PH dumps 2.7M tons of plastic waste into the sea.” The Manila Times
Borneo Bulletin (February 28, 2022). “Warning bells on plastic pollution.” Borneo Bulletin
