A New Treaty on Plastic Pollution – Perspectives from Asia

The world currently produces more than 200 million tonnes of plastic annually, with 41% of plastic waste being mismanaged as countries burn or dump their plastic trash into the environment. The top five countries that dump the most plastic in the ocean are from Asia and their share is more than half of the world’s marine plastic waste pollution.

Failure to understand and remediate the true cost of plastic will result in plastic production doubling and plastic pollution tripling by 2040.

Support is growing for a global treaty on plastic pollution with several Asian countries such as Japan, Maldives, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam already endorsing the need for the establishment of a new UN treaty on plastic pollution to be negotiated at the fifth session of the UN Environment Assembly in February 2022.

Following from this, WWF Singapore released its report ‘A New Treaty on Plastic Pollution: Perspectives from Asia’ that shows how a new global treaty on marine plastic pollution will benefit people, ecosystems and economies in the region, offering viable solutions for Asian countries to tackle the global plastic pollution crisis which is having pernicious impacts on the region.

The report highlights that an international framework, by establishing a level playing field and removing trade barriers, would enable Asian countries to better implement solutions such as adopting national reduction targets, introducing legislation to phase out single-use plastic products and implementing extended producer responsibility schemes.

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A New Treaty on Plastic Pollution – Perspectives from Asia

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