Establishing plastic recycling systems is difficult and expensive anywhere in the world, but the challenge is even greater in highly populated Asian countries where consumption of single-use plastics is exploding. It’s estimated that more than half of the 8 million tons of plastic leaking into the ocean each year comes from Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and China. The logistics of collecting and sorting the mounting waste -- a process known as the Plastic First Mile -- determine if a single-use plastic cup, box, or bottle will make it to a recycling bin or be added to the flow of plastic leaking into the ocean. In this webinar, which builds on the Sustainable Asia podcast series of the same name, our speakers will help us “travel” to different parts of Asia to understand how Asian countries are moving rapidly to pass laws and experiment with programs that create a circular economy for plastic waste through recycling, redesign, and reduced consumption.
With a robust waste infrastructure and a public well-versed in sorting and recycling waste, Japan has been the gold standard for recycling, even still it is the world’s top per capita consumer of single-use plastics. Hiroaki Odachi (Greenpeace Japan)will argue how and why Japan needs to move more aggressively towards zero waste goals. Sherry Lu (Plastic Free China) has been conducting deep dives into China’s booming express delivery industry that generates 1.5 million tons of plastic waste each year. She will highlight trends in corporate and government action in China to reduce, recycle or replace this packaging tsunami. Marcy Trent Long (Sustainable Asia) will share how Hong Kong’s lack of government regulation and barebone waste separation infrastructure has prompted a push for beverage companies to take responsibility for the plastic waste they produce. Tiza Mafira (Indonesia Plastic Bag Diet) will share how grassroots campaigns to push taxes on single-use plastics and community partnerships with corporations are vital steps to help the country reach its ambitious plastic reduction goals going forward.
