Plastic waste leakage in Southeast Asia, plus China, Japan and South Korea, could rise by nearly 70% by 2050 without stronger policies, according to a new OECD report.
The Regional Plastics Outlook says plastics use in the region is on track to almost double compared with 2022 levels, driven by rising incomes and living standards. ASEAN member states are expected to see a near tripling.
Plastic waste is projected to more than double, while leakage into the environment could grow by 68%, mostly from ASEAN lower-middle-income countries and China. In 2022, 8.4 million tonnes of mismanaged plastic waste entered the environment.
The report calls the region a “hotspot for plastic pollution”, noting that regional plastic waste grew from 10 million tonnes in 1990 to 113 million tonnes in 2022. Informal and unsafe practices, including open burning and dumping, remain widespread in rural areas of ASEAN countries and China.
Annual leakage could reach 14.1 million tonnes by 2050, with 5.1 million tonnes entering rivers, coastal areas and oceans. Over half of the plastics used in the region have a lifespan of under five years, becoming waste quickly.
The OECD says ambitious actions such as bans on single-use plastics and taxes could cut plastic use by 28%, raise recycling rates to 54%, and reduce mismanaged waste by 97%.
Talks on a legally binding global treaty on plastic pollution resumed in Geneva on Tuesday, after previous negotiations in South Korea collapsed last year amid disagreements over curbing production and improving waste management.
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Follow the latest developments and global reaction after the U.S. and Israel launched “major combat operations” in Iran, prompting retaliation from Tehran.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are escalating, with Washington ordering a significant military build-up in the region and multiple countries evacuating diplomatic staff amid fears of further instability.
Two people were killed and around 40 injured when a tram derailed in central Milan on Friday (27 February), a spokesperson for the local fire service said.
Governments across the region responded swiftly to Israel’s strikes on Iran, closing airspace, issuing travel advisories and activating contingency plans amid fears of escalation.
Pakistani air strikes hit a weapons depot on the western outskirts of Kabul overnight, triggering hours of secondary explosions that rattled homes across the Afghan capital and left residents fearing further violence.
The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state has risen to 46, authorities said, with 21 people still reported missing. The storms triggered landslides and widespread flooding, displacing thousands across Juiz de Fora and Uba.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday (12 February) announced the repeal of a scientific finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, and eliminated federal tailpipe emissions standards for cars and trucks.
Tropical Cyclone Gezani has killed at least 31 people and left four others missing after tearing through eastern Madagascar, the government said on Wednesday, with the island nation’s second-largest city bearing the brunt of the destruction.
Rivers and reservoirs across Spain and Portugal were on the verge of overflowing on Wednesday as a new weather front pounded the Iberian peninsula, compounding damage from last week's Storm Kristin.
Morocco has evacuated more than 100,000 people from four provinces after heavy rainfall triggered flash floods across several northern regions, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
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