1 of 25

Plastic waste management challenges in Cambodia

YIM MONGTOEUN, Solid Waste Management Specialist

Plastic waste management - future opportunities and private sector good practices in Cambodia

�

2 of 25

Plastic (bags)

Origin

Plastic bags were introduced in the market in 1960’s.
Fast developed becoming part of today’s life.
In Cambodia plastic bags arrived in the 90s
Almost all transaction/purchasing goods involve a plastic bag.

Plastic bags where introduced in the market for the first time in the sixties. Their use rapidly grow and they are now part of normal today’s life. It’s hard to think of a purchase of a good that doesn’t involve a plastic bag.

In Cambodia they were introduced in the markets in the 90s and soon replace local packaging materials.

Plastic bags are made from polyethylene, ultimately from oil.

The are 2 types of bags, High density polyethylene, commonly found in grocery stores and Low density polyethylene bags which are usually branded –boutique style bags.

Polyethylene on its own is not toxic, but all bags are full of additives and colorants which are needed to give them the consistency and aspect that we are used to.

Many people will say that plastic bags are the best design object ever invented. They are water proof, foldable, extremely light, resistant, they last forever and can be made in any shape and size. The fact that they are given usually freely make them almost unbeatable in the market.

It’s therefore quite understandable why plastic bags are used in such a variety of ways and situation.

3 of 25

Characteristics

plastic bag (Polyethylene) made from crude oil. The most produced plastic in the world.

Types of plastic bags

2 types: HDPE commonly found in grocery stores and LDPE boutique

Style bags

water proof, foldable, resistant, light, cheap, non biodegradable (last forever). 700-1000yrs

4 of 25

EXCESSIVE USE

Globally

Each year 500 Billion to 1 trillion plastic bags consumed worldwide, nearly 2 million per minute.
64% of the world's annual leakage of plastic waste into the ocean.

Cambodia

10-15 million bags are used everyday in Phnom Penh City alone
An average urban Cambodian uses more than 2000 bags per year.

So how many plastic bags are we really using?

It is estimated that every minute more than 1 million bags are used worldwide. This is equivalent to more than 500 billion bags used every year.

Even in plastic bag are relative new to Cambodia (from 1990s) their massive use in a variety of occasions as we had the chance to see in previous presentation, led to one of the highest per capita bag consumption rate.

Evidence from researches conducted by the project estimate that an average urban Cambodian uses more than 2000 bags per year. 10 times higher than the European average or china just to give you an example.

10 to 15 million bags are used everyday in Phnom Penh City alone.

There are many externalities as you all know that we should all be aware of, when talking about plastic bags

5 of 25

ACRA/EU

5

Countries	Consumption/year (Billion)	Population (2012)	Consumption/capita
China	300	1,343,239,923	223
US	90	313,847,465	287
Japan	30	127,368,088	236
Brazil	12	205,716,890	58
Hong Kong	9.8	7,153,519	1,370
United Kingdom	8	63,047,162	127
South Africa	8	48,810,427	164
Taiwan	5.8	23,113,901	253
Australia	4	22,015,576	182
Canada	3	34,300,083	88
Israel	2	7,590,758	263
Norway	1	4,707,270	212
New Zealand	0.872	4,327,944	201
Ireland	0.072	4,722,028	15

Major Plastic bag consumption by countries

6 of 25

ACRA/EU

6

To most consumers, plastic bag appear to be “free of charge”; this is a false impression.

The cheapness leads to wasteful consumption and disposal.

What Thought?

7 of 25

Impacts

Environment and natural resources

Biodiversity

Health

Floods

Tourism

I’m not going in details since the negative externalities of plastic bags, or the cost of their negative impacts where described in detail in the morning section by my colleague VIN.

So we’ve seen that plastic bags have damaging consequence on the environment and natural resources:

They are made of a non renewable resource (oil). When disposed they emit carbon emissions that contribute to global warming,

They will last forever, leaking chemicals to the ground and blocking the flow of water

Biodiveristy

Most of plastic bags pollutes the ocean and end up in the food chain of many species, some of which (turtle and some see birds) are seriously endangered.

Health:

Health problems are both caused by the emission generated form the burning process and, as we learned in the morning, from endocrine disruption through food contamination

Floods:

By blocking the water run offs floods can be created with all the consequences that we’ve seen in the morning

Tourism:

Plastic bag littered are spread all over Cambodia affecting the beauty of our country

8 of 25

About 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in each square mile of the oceans.

ACRA/EU

8

9 of 25

ACRA/EU

9

Plastic bag kills up to 1 million sea birds, 100,000 sea mammals and countless fish each year.

10 of 25

ACRA/EU

10

11 of 25

Challenges

All kinds of waste are mixed and disposed at landfill (there is no sanitary landfill in Cambodia) without any precaution and treatment.

Recycling and reuse of plastic bag is gaining importance as a sustainable method for plastic waste disposal.

Unfortunately, plastic bag is much more difficult to recycle than materials like glass, aluminum or paper.

ACRA/EU

11

12 of 25

Cost USD$ 4000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bag – Sold on the market for USD$32.
A common problem with recycling plastic bag is that they are often made up of more than one kind of polymer or there may be some sort of fiber added to the plastic.

Challenges (Cont)

13 of 25

13

ACRA/EU

14 of 25

Policy instruments

Full Ban
Partial Ban

Thickness
Day
Price

Minimum price – fee per bag
Taxes on producers/importers
Incentives for alternatives

Just read the list, and say that you will describe and exemplify each policies in the next slides.

Full ban: all bags indifferently are banned. Alternatives are used to replace plastic bags.

Partial Ban: selectively banning some type of bags

Thickness: target smaller single use plastic bags, and promote a switch to thicker, more likely to be reused bags

day : prohibit the use of bags in certain days of the week. usually the first step which is usually accompanied by introduction of alternatives

Price: target the delivery of free bags – bags with 0 price, this measure ask vendors to sell bags by deciding a price. similarity with minimum price policies

Fee: minimum price type of policy done to incentivize reduction behaviours in the consumers like combining or using own bags. It can work without alternatives in place

Taxes: in regulated sectors producers and importers are charged with a tax that it is expected to disincentives the sector. This can be import duties, additional VAT

Incentives: lower import taxes/custom for biodegradable bags

promote local production of alternatives (by VAT exemption, investments

15 of 25

examples– FULL BAN

Rwanda – Full ban on non biodegradable polyethylene bags issued on 2008

Successful example

High enforcement put in place

Alternatives: paper bags

New Delhi – Full ban issued on 2012

Partly successful

Good result in the formal sector

Limited success in local markets – enforcement issues

Varity of alternatives and materials

16 of 25

examples– PARTIAL BAN BY THICKNESS

New Delhi – ban of ultra light plastic bags 2008

Failed

Difficulties in the implementation

No enforcement

South Africa – ban on ultra light plastic bags 2003 combined with a levy on thicker bags. Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya are a plus.

Taiwan, France (Paris) – Non-biodegradable

Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, and Tanzania are considering on banning thickness plastic bag.

17 of 25

examples– PARTIAL BAN BY DAY

Phnom Penh – Local Announcement N 11 2014

Local announcement on no plastic bag at weekend
Voluntary not binding
No alternative
Limited success

18 of 25

examples– PARTIAL BAN BY price

China – ban on free plastic bags 2008

the ban targeted both free bags (imposing a price) and ultra light bags (less 25 microns)

plastic bags were reduced by 2/3

in the informal sector still given freely in most of the cases

Phnom Penh – local announcement N 9- 2012

Voluntary

Request to supermarkets to stop providing free bags to consumers

No supermarkets follow the request unsuccessful

target the delivery of free bags – bags with 0 price, this measure ask vendors to sell bags by deciding a price. similarity with minimum price policies

China in 2008 issued a multiple ban on ultra light bags (less than 25 microns) and imposed local business to charge plastic bags to consumers by banning the distribution of free plastic bags.

In 2012, after 5 years of implementation of this policies, a reduction of 66% of consumption of plastic bags was reported.

There is still room for improvement anyway since in the informal sectors plastic bags are still be given freely

Also in this case I want to mention an initiative of phnom penh municipality, even if it can not be considered a ban since is based on voluntary action.

In July 2012 Phnom Penh governor request all supermarkets to start charging consumer for the plastic bag used.

Due to the non binding characteristic of this policy and to the fact that supermarkets probably fear losing customers, nobody seems to have started imposing a fee for plastic bags.

Few people seems to be aware of this announcement either.

19 of 25

examples– LEVIES AND TAXES

Ireland – plastic bag levy 2002

Initially 15 cents per bag, increased to 22 in 2007

Consumption decrease from 328 per capita to 21

Very effective 93% reduction

All levies remitted to the environmental fund

Other countries had similar experience (Scotland, wales, UK, Honk Kong and several cities)

Vietnam –Environmental tax on plastic bags (2012)

taxes equal to 40.000 VND per kg

Charged to producers and importers

many producers elude the tax

enforcement issues

Not effective

20 of 25

examples– INCENTIVES

Rwanda

The full ban on 2008 was accompanied by a set of incentives aiming at promoting the local production of alternatives. These included tax exemption and state investments and resulted in the development of new industries

Thailand

The country is becoming a hub for bio plastics Thanks to a series of incentives.

other forms in which alternatives could be incentivized are lowering of import duties, VAT exemption, Infrastructure and value chain development for alternatives

21 of 25

LESSON LEARNT - BAN

Full Ban

Alternatives need to be identified and available at the market

Implementation requires very high enforcement capacity

Partial ban thickness

Hard to enforce, measurement is an issue

If enforcement issues are solved can be an appropriate tool to specifically target single use plastic bags

Partial ban day

Useful to introduce alternatives, but these have to be available at market

Can be used to prepare people to a future ban but no major impact on its own

Partial ban price

Can work without alternatives in place

In a highly competitive market could lead to plastic bag prices closed to 0

Hard to enforce in the informal sector

22 of 25

LESSON LEARNT – TAXES AND LEVIES

Levies – Minimum price polices

Similar to a ban on free plastic bags

Can work without alternatives in place

Determining a price could avoid competitive behaviors – if done on voluntary basis not so effective

Hard to enforce in the informal sectors but quite successful for the formal sector

Taxes

Several ways taxes can be imposed on producers and importers (VAT, custom duties etc. )

The existence of strong informal sector can hinder the implementation of such a policy

23 of 25

LESSON LEARNT – INCENTIVES FOR ALTERNATIVES

Industry

Raw materials needs to be available. Recovery of waste products is envisaged

In Cambodia there may be a potential in term of raw materials (palm oil residues, rice, shrimps skull) manufacturing infrastructure is low

Import of desirable alternative

Considering proximity with Thailand, it may be more effective to import alternatives rather than produce them locally

Alternatives

Several alternatives are already in the market. Once decision on what alternative is preferable is made, a full value chain may need to be created. i.e. compostable bags need segregation of waste and composting system in place to be a desirable alternative. Investments are needed.

24 of 25

RECCOMENDATIONS ON POSSIBLE WAYS FORWARD

To ban plastic bags only after viable alternatives have been identified and introduced in the market.

To consider minimum price policies starting with the formal retail sector (feasible, doesn’t require alternatives)

Policies targeting local markets should be shaped having this in mind. Ways to address the informal economy (majority of shops in the country) should be assessed.

25 of 25

Thank you for your kind attention!