Stopping Plastic Waste Leakage Into Oceans

Asia and the Pacific: ground zero for marine plastic pollution

The Asia and Pacific region has an enormous and growing marine plastic pollution problem. Eight of the ten rivers that transport up to 95% of the global load of plastics into the sea are in Asia: the Yangtze, Yellow, Hai, Pearl, Amur, Mekong, Indus, and Ganges rivers. 

Plastic waste puts a heavy strain on marine ecosystems, causing ingestion, suffocation, and entanglement of numerous marine species; releasing toxic pollutants; and disrupting its ability to capture and store carbon.  

This trend is very troubling, considering billions of people in Asia and the Pacific depend on healthy oceans for ecosystem services including livelihoods, food, and protection from climate change impacts. The long-term impact of microplastics on human health remains unknown. But exposure is clear: microplastic particles have been identified in human stool samples worldwide. Poorer communities are disproportionately impacted by the cause of marine plastic (unsustainably managed waste) and the impact of marine plastic on the natural resources they rely on. 

The Asia and Pacific region has an enormous and growing marine plastic pollution problem. Microplastic particles have been identified in human stool samples worldwide.

While marine plastic pollution is a complex, multisector problem, the key drivers in Asia and the Pacific include the unsustainable production and consumption of disposable and nonbiodegradable products, and the poor and insufficient integrated solid waste management (ISWM) and recycling systems.

A complex, multisector challenge

Waste management is one of developing Asia’s most neglected and underinvested municipal services. About 75% of land-sourced ocean plastic comes from uncollected waste or litter, while the rest comes from gaps in the collection system. As a result, large amounts of garbage are abandoned in public places, often in or near rivers.  

Addressing this problem requires a fundamental and gradual shift from the traditional “take, make, and dispose of” linear approach to a circular economy method. This new approach includes widespread public behavior change, increased private sector responsibility, new business models, and innovations in packaging and technologies to promote reuse, redesign, recovery, remanufacturing, and recycling. 

Marine plastic is a transboundary pollutant, flowing beyond national boundaries into regional and international waters, and therefore warrants regional action. With support from cofinancers—the Global Environment Facility, the Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific, the High-Level Technology Fund, and the Republic of Korea e-Asia and Knowledge Partnership Fund—ADB approved a cluster of knowledge and support technical assistance (TA cluster), Promoting Action on Plastic Pollution from Source to Sea in Asia and the Pacific.  The project covers Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

Financing partners support ADB’s efforts to help developing members prepare action plans and policies to address marine plastic pollution.

The TA cluster aims to help developing members prepare action plans and policies to address marine plastic pollution; support plastic pollution reduction investments; and improve knowledge-sharing, regional cooperation, and financing on marine plastic pollution solutions. Two subprojects have been defined under the TA cluster. These are Enhancing Knowledge and Creating Enabling Environments for Reducing Marine Plastic Pollution (Subproject 1), approved in December 2019, and Prioritizing and Implementing Actions to Reduce Marine Plastic Pollution (Subproject 2), approved in October 2020.

Reducing marine plastics

The project is under way. Specifically for Subproject 1, some progress has been made. Support to policy reform, institutional strengthening, and developing and implementing action plans to address marine plastic pollution and strengthen the enabling environment for healthy oceans are being actioned. In the wake of the MV X-Press Pearl container ship fire in May 2021, which caused the discharge of hazardous chemicals and plastic pellets into the ocean, the project is helping the Government of Sri Lanka strengthen its capacity and monitor activities to address plastic leakage and environmental damage. 

The project also supported nine investment projects on ISWM, circular plastics economy, and healthy oceans. Eight knowledge products have been developed and disseminated, including one on managing infectious medical waste as part of developing member countries’ coronavirus disease (COVID-19) responses. 

The project helped to launch ocean finance initiatives—such as the  Ocean Finance Framework, Green and Blue Bond Framework, the world’s first blue bond incubator, and the establishment of the Ocean Resilience and Coastal Adaptation (ORCA) Finance Partnership Facility. Under ORCA, the project supported the establishment of the Blue Pacific Finance Hub. 

In January 2022, the project organized ADB’s first virtual Healthy Oceans Tech and Finance Forum, which promoted technology and financing solutions for healthy ocean investments, including a focus on plastic-free oceans.

Subproject 2, on the other hand, envisions enhanced action on marine plastic pollution by supporting marine plastic reduction solutions and investments. The project supports the development of city-level action plans for reducing marine plastic waste in selected cities in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam. In Thailand, the project is supporting studies on the value chain for bioplastics as an alternative material and on economic instruments and market-based mechanisms for plastic waste management and recycling. Such is particularly important for addressing plastic packaging waste management. The potential for digital technologies for ISWM and circular plastics economy is also being explored through pilots in Indonesia and Viet Nam. Subproject 2 will also build the knowledge and capacity of government officials, engage local businesses and communities in behavior change campaigns and livelihood development opportunities, and facilitate sharing of lessons and solutions between key stakeholders.