Plastics play an important role in our daily lives, from helping to preserve food and insulate buildings to increasing the fuel efficiency of vehicles. At the same time, their rising production and use is leading to large amounts of waste and pollution. Plastic leakage affects not only coastal areas, but also urban centres, rural zones and biodiverse marine habitats.
The Southeast and East Asian region is a major hotspot for plastic pollution, driven by rising waste generation and insufficient – though improving – waste management, as well as a high prevalence of plastic leakage along its densely populated coastlines. The region is now emerging as a global player in the fight against plastic pollution. National action plans, as well as regional policy frameworks such as the ASEAN Regional Action Plan for Combating Marine Debris, are creating momentum for more ambitious and co-ordinated policy responses, and are already making progress in areas like waste segregation at source, recycling and the use of recycled materials in manufacturing.
The OECD’s Regional Plastics Outlook for Southeast and East Asia provides an evidence base to inform and support policy efforts by countries in the region as well as broader international co-operation. The report focuses on the 10 ASEAN Member States along with Japan, Korea and the People’s Republic of China. It finds that current trends in regional plastics use are unsustainable and environmental impacts are escalating. Without stronger policies, plastic waste generation would more than double and plastics leaking into the environment would be two-thirds higher by mid-century. However, our analysis also shows that this outcome could be avoided if countries in the region take ambitious action throughout the plastic lifecycle in the period to 2050: in such a scenario, plastics use in 2050 could drop by 28%, plastic waste by 23% and plastic leakage by more than 95% in the region, compared to a scenario in which no additional policies to tackle plastic pollution are implemented by that year.
This Outlook develops a policy roadmap to virtually end plastic pollution in the region, tailored to each country’s unique socio-economic conditions. It draws on the OECD’s multidisciplinary expertise to support governments in meeting the challenge, allowing Southeast and East Asia to become a global model for ending plastic pollution.
Mathias Cormann
Secretary-General, OECD