{"id":40091727,"date":"2022-05-19T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadialogueocean.net\/?p=91727"},"modified":"2024-04-14T16:41:16","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T16:41:16","slug":"how-plastic-is-fuelling-a-hidden-climate-crisis-in-southeast-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/how-plastic-is-fuelling-a-hidden-climate-crisis-in-southeast-asia\/","title":{"rendered":"How plastic is fuelling a hidden climate crisis in Southeast Asia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With sea level rise and ecological collapse threatening its environment and the very existence of its main coastal cities, Southeast Asia is one of the regions most at risk<\/a> from the impacts of climate change. But while countries around the world step up efforts towards decarbonisation and reaching their shared climate goals, carbon remains unchallenged \u2013 in the form of plastic \u2013 and firmly entrenched in the region\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From its production to consumption and disposal, plastic is one of the planet\u2019s most carbon-intensive industries. Scientists have found<\/a> its carbon footprint has doubled in less than 30 years, now accounting for nearly 5% of total annual greenhouse gas emissions. If plastics were a country, they would be the fifth largest emitter<\/a> in the world. Yet petrochemicals, the refined oil and gas products that plastic production relies on, have been labelled<\/a> an \u201cenergy blind spot\u201d \u2013 a sector that policymakers consistently neglect in the drive towards decarbonisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the countries of Southeast Asia, plastic is becoming an ever thornier issue, as the region confronts a growing tide of waste from home and abroad that threatens its environment and, as it degrades or is incinerated, even the global climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The journey of plastics in Southeast Asia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While public debate tends to focus on plastic waste and the emissions it generates when incinerated, the material\u2019s climate impacts start at the very beginning of the supply chain. Plastics are derived from fossil fuels, the same fuels which are used to run the industrial plants that produce plastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe climate impacts of plastics occur at multiple stages in its lifecycle,\u201d says Carroll Muffett, president and CEO of the non-profit Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). \u201cPlastics can be made from naphtha, a byproduct of oil production. It can be made from ethane, a byproduct of natural gas, or even directly from coal through a process called coal-to-olefins,\u201d Muffett explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The climate impacts of plastic are largely invisible because they occur upstream<\/blockquote>Carroll Muffett, Center for International Environmental Law<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The journey of plastics starts from wellheads and drill pads, and continues through pipelines and corridors built to transport fuels, all of which release methane and other pollutants along the way. \u201cMany of those impacts are largely invisible because they occur upstream,\u201d Muffett says, \u201cand are driven in different ways in different regions of the world\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take Indonesia, which relies on coal for 60%<\/a> of its electricity production. There a growth in plastic production has exacerbated carbon emissions and particulate matter pollution from coal burning. The country\u2019s coal-mining activities for plastics production specifically have boomed since 1995, with researchers noting a 300-fold increase<\/a> by 2015. As a result, they calculate that more than one-tenth of Indonesia\u2019s total emissions can be attributed to the plastics industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Indonesia also finds itself in trouble at the other end of the plastic life cycle, as a leading source<\/a> of marine plastic pollution. As plastic debris is blown by wind or washed away by rain into sewers and waterways across the world’s coasts, it may end up in the sea, globally adding an estimated 14 million tonnes<\/a> of waste to the ocean every year. In Indonesia, more than 4,000 fish species and 12 million people employed in the fishing industry bear the brunt of this problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plastics choke the ocean<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While grim images of trapped turtles and fish carcasses full of plastic may be the most vivid depiction of the global ocean plastics problem, a growing body of research now suggests that the smallest marine creatures at the bottom of the food chain may in fact be worst hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A research team at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in Germany modelled<\/a> a hypothetical ocean system in which a menagerie of marine grazers and predators, known as zooplankton, continue to feed on the microplastics of 5mm or less that increasingly pollute the ocean. Their modelling found that as these materials enter zooplankton diets and increasingly replace the carbon-containing organisms on which they normally feed, this process could potentially accelerate the loss of oxygen in the oceans, and contribute to climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Plastic waste in Jimabaran Bay, Bali, Indonesia. Many pieces of plastic end up in the ocean, harming marine life. (Image: Domonabikebali \/ Alamy)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe effect on oxygen and the carbon cycle I reported in my paper has not been observed in the real ocean yet,\u201d cautions lead author Karin Kvale. \u201cIt\u2019s reasonable to expect that the severity of ecosystem damage will depend on how much the plastic overlaps with the biology, so biologically productive coastal areas with large human populations could be expected to suffer larger negative ecological effects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the potential impacts of these feeding changes could be particularly brutal for the densely populated and highly biodiverse coasts of Indonesia, and Southeast Asia at large, according to Moffatt these scarcely understood risks matter to the whole planet. Oceanic microflora and fauna are \u201cat the heart of the biological carbon pump responsible for moving CO2 from the ocean surface to the ocean depths, where it doesn\u2019t interact with the climate over centuries or millennia,\u201d he says. \u201cThis enormous quantity of plastics in the ocean could actually be interfering with the world\u2019s single largest natural carbon sink.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Measuring emissions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For developing countries in South and Southeast Asia, curbing the pervasive impacts of plastic pollution is as difficult on solid ground as it is at sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In most countries in the region, including Thailand<\/a> and Vietnam<\/a>, the bulk of plastic waste is processed by informal workers who pick out whatever can be recycled, while the rest goes to dumping sites to eventually end up in landfill or incinerators. How much methane and other harmful emissions are released in these processes is difficult to estimate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data on the different stages of the plastic life cycle exist, but they are scattered and can be inconsistent. Campaigners at Pacific Environment, a California-based non-profit, decided to try and come up with their own simple model to calculate carbon emissions from the plastic sector at large, starting with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers used data from a private provider specialising in industrial sector intelligence \u201cto figure out how much plastic was being produced in the country, and particularly how much single-use plastic, for which we used a proxy of \u2018plastic in the packaging sector\u2019,\u201d says Nicole Portley, who leads marine campaigns for Pacific Environment. \u201cAnd then we used data from the consultancy Material Economics<\/a> on the life-cycle release of CO2-equivalent emissions for each kilogram of plastic \u2013 about 5 kg of CO2 equivalent \u2013 to estimate the emissions resulting from China\u2019s plastic production and consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"life<\/div>
Graphic by China Dialogue Ocean<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The analysis, the full results of which are yet to be published, shows how estimating the plastic flows within a single country can be relatively easy with available data, but things get much more complex when it comes to international trade, which generates a huge amount of plastic, much of which is non-recyclable packaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The threat beyond borders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Southeast Asia, the single-use packaging that many companies use to deliver their products to the consumer is \u201ca significant problem\u201d, says Von Hernandez, global coordinator for Break Free from Plastic, a movement to end plastic pollution. \u201cWe find that a lot of the plastic waste that\u2019s ending up in the oceans or in the open environment is not recyclable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This type of delivery model was pioneered in South and Southeast Asia, and has become so \u201centrenched\u201d that big industries now use it as a \u201cjustification\u201d. Hernandez, who is a renowned Filipino environmentalist and Goldman Prize winner, adds that these actors defend single-use plastics by claiming they are \u201csupporting the poor, because people need access to certain luxury goods.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of the plastic waste that\u2019s ending up in the oceans or in the open environment is not recyclable<\/blockquote>Von Hernandez, global coordinator of Break Free from Plastic<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hoang Hai, a researcher at the University of Da Nang in Vietnam, surveyed 307 households in the city of Da Nang as part of a research project<\/a> in collaboration with the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA). Their study demonstrates the use of disposable plastics is ubiquitous, and dramatically increasing in the country due to the growth of app-based food and drink delivery services. The surveyed households chose home delivery due to its convenience, in terms of avoiding cooking and washing up. But, these options exacerbate the plastic waste problem. \u201cThis lifestyle will generate [per person] hundreds of plastic bags, cups, boxes, and straws to be disposed of,\u201d Hoang tells China Dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hernandez points out that companies are starting to take notice of the issue. Nestl\u00e9, which generates nearly 2 million tonnes<\/a> of plastic waste annually and has been identified as one of the <\/a><\/a>major players<\/a> responsible for a high share of imported plastic waste in Southeast Asia, has set a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050. A company spokesperson told China Dialogue that this will include both direct and indirect emissions, the majority of which come from agriculture, packaging and product distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The company has also committed that by 2025, all its packaging will be recyclable and reusable, but pointed out that some countries may not have the necessary infrastructure for collection and recycling, Nestl\u00e9 is exploring removing plastic packaging altogether and is rolling out initiatives in the Philippines<\/a>, Malaysia<\/a> and Thailand<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waste management<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Southeast Asian countries are among the nations that stand to lose the most from plastic pollution, and from the climatic impacts it contributes to. But they are not the biggest producers of plastic items, nor of plastic waste. The United States and United Kingdom are by far the biggest per capita waste producers, at 0.34 kg and 0.21 kg each day. The only Southeast Asian country that makes it into the top ten is the Philippines, with 0.07 kg per person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Properly managing plastic waste, however, is a different issue, and one made more complex for Southeast Asian nations that accept waste shipped from other countries. The problem has become more acute after China, historically one of the biggest importers of recyclable scrap materials, enforced a ban on foreign waste in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following China\u2019s new restrictions, smaller countries in the region have been absorbing the waste influx. An analysis<\/a> by Greenpeace Southeast Asia found that the 10 countries that form ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) recorded a 171% growth in plastic waste imports, rising from a total of 836,500 tonnes in 2016 to 2,266,000 tonnes to 2018, the year the ban was implemented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n