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Effective policy implementation in the ASEAN region to reduce plastic waste

Michikazu Kojima

Senior Advisor to the President on Environmental Issues

Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)

michikazu.kojima@eria.org

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Plastic waste management - Future opportunities and private sector’s good practices in CambodiaοΏ½August 5th, 2022

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Plastics in Cambodia

  • Rapid population growth + economic development πŸ‘ͺ increase of plastic waste
  • People in Phnom Penh use around 10 million plastic bags per day
  • Most used plastic products: plastic boxes, bags, bottles, cups, and straws
  • Plastics contributed to 80% of coastal pollution on mainland beaches
  • 4,6 million plastic bottles end up in Cambodian waterways
  • Mekong is one of 10 rivers that contribute to plastics in the oceans

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Source: Photo by Michikazu Kojima, July 2022

UNDP (2022), SEA Circular (2020)

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Solid waste management in Cambodia

SEA Circular (2020)

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Challenges

  • Insufficient waste collection
    • Insufficient data on waste at the national level
  • Inadequate waste management infrastructure
  • Highly dependance on informal waste pickers
  • Absence of data on marine plastic leakage at the national scale

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Source: Photo by Michikazu Kojima, July 2022

SEA Circular (2020)

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Reduction of fishing practice

Declining water quality

Destruction of marine habitat and coastal wildlife

Impacts

Meanwhile,

SEA Circular (2020)

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Regional waste management scheme

  • Economies of scale apply in construction of landfill site and waste to energy plant
  • Many municipalities in Japan have formulated partial affair associations with neighboring municipalities since 1960s
  • The idea is similar to clustering policy in Thailand and regional government scheme in Indonesia

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Development of municipality associations in Japan

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Design for recycling: Japanese experience

  • In 1992, the Council for PET Bottle Recycling in Japan issued a guideline on designing a recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle
  • It includes requirements on designing the bottle, label, cap, and others
  • To ensure the quality and demand of recycled products, Japan issued industrial standards for such products

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Perforation on the labeling of PET bottle

Source: The Council for PET Bottle Recycling (2016)

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Effective EPR implementation

  • Typical challenges: market-based collection system, limited recycling facilities, limited waste service in rural areas
  • Possible measures: differentiating producer responsibility, expanding to remote and rural areas (e.g., transfer station), informal sector involvement, joint facilities
  • EPR policies should be tailored to each country’s condition

Source: OECD (2001), Johannes et al. (2021)

Application matrix for EPR

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Waste collection and monitoring

  • Beach clean-up (considering seasonal factor), use of trash rack in rivers to collect floating waste, cooperation with fisherfolk to collect waste in the ocean

Source: Pirika (2021), GIC-AIT (2022)

Bamboo trash rack in Bangkok

(Photo by Michikazu Kojima)

  • Citizen science: Pirika SNS app (enabling users to share photographs of the litter as it is picked up), pLitter (online plastic litter annotation platform)

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References

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