How Asia can be an example in the fight against plastic pollution

This year, the theme for World Environment Day – Ending Plastic Pollution Globally – could not be timelier.

According to UN estimates, over 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced every year worldwide, half of which is single-use plastics. Shockingly, less than 10% of plastic is recycled and an estimated 11 million tonnes of plastic waste leak into our rivers, lakes, seas and oceans annually.

With more than 800 marine and coastal species affected by plastic pollution through ingestion, entanglement and other hazards, the environmental toll is staggering. However, the impact doesn’t stop here: microplastics enter the food chain. On land, plastic waste degrades into microplastics, which permeate the soil and spread through the air we breathe. Plastic pollution poses serious risks to human health as well.

This year, the global celebrations of World Environment Day on 5 June were hosted by the Republic of Korea, resonating across Asia – a region both heavily impacted by plastic pollution and generating leading solutions to the plastic crisis.

The Republic of Korea, for example, developed a leading and significantly advanced waste management system. Its separate disposal system for recyclable waste, volume-based garbage fees and restrictions on single-use plastic products have been in place for decades, driving widespread behavioural change.

Korea’s extended producer responsibility schemes impose on manufacturers the obligation to collect and recycle the wastes derived from their products and to adopt design processes that facilitate recycling. By 2030, Korea aims to reduce plastic waste by 50% and increase recycling to 70%.

Once identified as one of the world's regions most severely affected by plastic pollution, South-East Asia is now emerging as a hub of action, innovation and cross-border cooperation to reverse the crisis.

In 2019, ASEAN member states adopted the Bangkok Declaration on Combating Marine Debris, pledging to protect coastlines, communities and economies. This was followed by the ASEAN Regional Action Plan for Combating Marine Debris in 2021 and by the ASEAN Blue Economy Framework launched at the 43rd ASEAN Summit in September 2023, reinforcing a regional vision: the plastic crisis knows no borders and neither should the solutions.

Since then, progress has accelerated. The World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP) supports countries through multistakeholder, systems-based approaches to address plastic pollution. With 25 national partnerships, GPAP is the world’s largest initiative tackling plastic pollution.

The first country in the world to join GPAP was Indonesia, which launched the Indonesia National Plastic Action Partnership (NPAP) in 2019, followed by Viet Nam in 2020. GPAPs and NPAPs have rapidly expanded their footprint in Southeast Asia over the last two years.

As of 2025, six countries in South-East Asia (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Indonesia, Philippines, Viet Nam and Bangladesh) have embraced this model.

What’s different about NPAPs? Their approach is based on three pillars:

The NPAPs drive coordination across government ministries, businesses, civil society and academia. Multistakeholder task forces and working groups are tackling the issue from different angles.

NPAPs also spotlight, raise visibility and scale local innovation; they enable maximum collaboration among different initiatives addressing plastic pollution. For example:

These examples are a snapshot of the diverse actions and stakeholders driving the green and just transition to plastics circularity in South-East Asia.

In 2023 and 2024, ASEAN chairs co-hosted the Conference on Combatting Plastic Pollution with NPAP Indonesia and NPAP Lao PDR, respectively, with support from the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia. This year the conference will be hosted by Malaysia in October in Kuala Lumpur.

This emerging annual event provides a vital forum for measuring progress, harmonizing regulations and amplifying national efforts into a cohesive regional strategy.

In 2024, the conference, led by the government of Lao PDR, led to the adoption of the ASEAN Declaration on Plastic Circularity, which calls on local, national, regional and international stakeholders to help foster knowledge exchange and multistakeholder cooperation and provide financial and technical support to address plastic pollution to achieve Sustainable Development Goals and environmental sustainability.

ASEAN member states are also called on to foster synergies among initiatives such as the Southeast Asia Regional Program on Combating Marine Plastics, ASEAN Regional Working Groups, NPAPs and partners such as GPAP and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Korea with 50 member states including several ASEAN countries.

This all matters in 2025, as the year marks a turning point for global plastic action. Negotiations toward an International Legally Binding Instrument on Plastic Pollution, otherwise known as the Global Plastics Treaty, are expected to conclude, with negotiators from over 170 countries gathering in Geneva, Switzerland, in August.

As the world looks ahead to global commitments, South-East Asia provides a powerful example of countries that have converted pledges into tangible solutions.

GGGI’s report Bridging Gaps, Empowering Change – Tackling Plastic Pollution, highlights the uneven readiness of countries to implement the Global Plastics Treaty, noting developing economies need targeted international support.

Extended producer responsibility (EPR), innovative financing mechanisms and peer-to-peer exchanges between countries with similar socioeconomic contexts are key measures needed to support effective implementation.

To enhance global and regional cooperation, GGGI and the World Economic Forum formalized their partnership through a new Memorandum of Understanding in June 2025.

“This partnership brings together GGGI's policy expertise in developing and emerging economies with the Forum's platform for convening global leaders and facilitating public-private cooperation,” said Sang-Hyup Kim, director-general of GGGI.

“By aligning the Forum’s global networks with GGGI's project development experience, we aim to develop concrete initiatives on climate action, energy transition, biodiversity conservation, and resilient global supply chains that can attract investment and create measurable benefits for communities and the environment.”

By working together, countries can realize a future where plastic pollution is eliminated, natural ecosystems are protected and communities thrive.

South-East Asia is proving that #BeatPlasticPollution is more than just the World Environment Day hashtag. It’s about transforming pilot projects into scalable solutions and fostering a regional movement rooted in action and partnerships.

Dukwoo Jun, Circular Economy COP Lead and Trust Fund Coordinator, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), also contributed to this article.