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Country Focus
Country FoCus Southeast Asia rises to the circular economy challenge
Low recycling rates and recoverability of high-value resources from plastic wastes are major roadblocks for circular agendas of countries in the Southeast Asian region. One country that is taking the leap is Malaysia, says Angelica Buan in this article.
ASEAN pushed to recycling goals
Southeast Asia, or the ASEAN, is not an outlier in the global circular economy movement. Indeed, the circular economy, along with security and trade cooperation, is usually at the forefront of issues at regional meetings. But making the circular economy agenda successful is a different story.
The region, which is a large consumer and producer of petroleum-based plastics, has to meet its recycling goals, simply because the growing volume of municipal solid waste (MSW), primarily from households, commercial and industrial sources, and other human activities, is becoming too much to handle.
Of the ten countries in the ASEAN bloc, Indonesia is estimated to generate the highest quantity of MSW with 64 million tonnes/year, followed by Thailand at 26 million tonnes and Vietnam at 22 million tonnes. The Philippines,
ASEAN, a large consumer and producer of petroleum-based plastics must meet its recycling goals by increasing recycling rates
Malaysia, Myanmar and Laos generated between nearly 8-15 million tonnes/year, according to data published in the Waste Management in ASEAN countries report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2017.
As it stands, sanitary landfills and open dumps are the most common forms of waste management. Recycling rates in the region are falling short of targets, owing to inefficient disposal methods and the lack of recycling infrastructure and technologies. It’s not surprising that viable materials from recycled plastics aren't recovered.
An initiative, the ASEAN Regional Action Plan (RAP), launched in May this year as a response to mismanaged plastic wastes and marine debris, calls for more drastic measures to improve collection, reduce plastic inputs into the system, prevent leakage of plastic scraps into the environment, and create value for waste reuse.
The action plan proposes for guidelines to phase out single-use plastics (SUPs), harmonise regional policies on recycling and plastics packaging standards, and improve regional marine debris monitoring.
Billions of missed opportunities from waste
A recent dismal finding is that only roughly 25% of plastics available for recycling in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand are recycled into valuable materials, including SUPs that are discarded rather than recycled, according to a World Bank report. As a result, more than 75% of the material value of plastics has been lost, amounting to US$6 billion per year in the three countries.
The recent World Bank report, on the situation of marine debris in Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines, is framed in the context of the economic opportunities in plastic circularity.
The report states that this is not only a waste of natural resources and a missed opportunity for local industries, but it's also a significant missed opportunity for these countries to improve their trade balance by creating jobs and earning foreign
About 25% of plastics available for recycling in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand are recycled into valuable materials; the rest are discarded rather than recycled
exchange through the export of recycled plastics and other materials.
The recommendations in the report involve ramping up the sorting efficiency of post-consumer plastics collection, setting recycled content targets across all major end-use applications, implementing "design for recycling" standards for plastics, especially for packaging, and encouraging higher recycling capacities.
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Going the full circle with PET bottle recycling
PET plastic is a common packaging material for essential consumer products such as food and beverage, personal and household care, and others that are commonly purchased by households in Southeast Asia because it is convenient and lightweight.
In 2020, about 2.12 million tonnes of PET bottles were consumed by five countries in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, according to the World Wide Fund (WFF)’s Plastic Packaging in Southeast Asia and China report.
The bad news is that when these PET bottles reach the end of their useful lives, they will be discarded.
On the other hand, beverage giant Coca-Cola says recycling PET bottles can greatly benefit the environment and economies, in its report titled Full Circle: Accelerating the Circular Economy for PostConsumer PET bottles in Southeast Asia,
Prepared by Singapore-based research firm GA Circular, the Coke report articulates on how plastic recycling reduces the need for new plastics, shrinks landfill use and incineration, encourages the development of innovative plastic-derived products, and curbs pollution. The resins or pellets made from recycled post- consumer PET bottles can be used to make new bottles and containers, as well as packaging and fibres.
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Over 2 million tonnes of PET bottles were consumed by five countries in Southeast Asia in 2020
Six countries: Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar, accounted for 3.8% or 880,000 tonnes of global PET bottle consumption, and contributed about 29% of total plastic leakage into the oceans, the report said.
By the year 2030, PET bottle consumption in these countries could reach 1.52 million tonnes. Yearly, an estimated 660,000 tonnes of PET bottles are dumped in landfills or leak into the environment, resulting in a loss of US$199 million. According to the report, PET bottle collection rates for recycling are on average 54% at the city level (based on nine representative cities) and 26% at the national level in the six countries.
As a result, the report emphasises the importance of focusing on systemic solutions to drive circularity, recommending the implementation of an industry-led PRO (Packaging Recovery Organisation). The latter is focused on boosting the value chain by implementing a price incentive that also benefits the informal sector, which is the backbone of PET bottle collection in these countries.
Other solutions focus on material end markets; improving packaging design to optimise the economics of recyclability; and for governments to create circular economy policies and standards, such as food-grade recycled content guidelines, recycled content targets, and source separation and separate collection.
Malaysia helms materials recycling/recovery agenda
A growth sector in Malaysia, the plastics manufacturing industry is supported by 1,300 plastic manufacturers and accounted for 4.7% of its GDP in 2018. It meets the insatiable demand for plastics from a wide range of industries, including automotive parts, household and consumer goods, packaging, construction materials, and medical devices.
As intoned in the 2021 World Bank report on Malaysia’s plastic market, the country recycled only 24% of key plastic resins in 2019. It is, thus, not on track to meet the National Solid Waste
Management Department or Jabatan Pengurusan
Sisa Pepejal Negara (JPSPN) recycling target of 40% by 2025, owing to mismanaged plastic waste and insufficient recycling infrastructure.
Based on the JPSPN's 2013 Survey on Solid Waste Composition, Characteristics and Existing Practice of Solid Waste Recycling in Malaysia, which has become a vital basis for monitoring the country's progress toward recycling targets, Malaysia's recycling rate was 9.7% in 2012, with more than 21.6 tonnes of waste generated: both discarded and recyclables.
Malaysia is on track to meet its recycling targets despite obstacles such as a lack of infrastructure and waste mismanagement
The East Coast (cities of Kuantan, Kota Bahru, and Besut) represented the highest recycling at a rate of 11.4%, followed by the Southern region and Klang Valley at 10.6% and 10%, respectively.
What influenced recycling activity, according to respondents, was public awareness in recycling; availability of recyclers to buy the recyclables; and the volume of recyclables capable of being collected. For the traders, middle men and buy back centres, an unstable market demand and price instability, affect recycling activity.
The plight on recycling has since improved. From 2017-2019, recycling rates, specifically for plastics, had steadily increased, as per a study conducted by the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp).
The agency is pushing for a recycling rate of 40% by 2025, up from the national waste management office's proposal of 30% recycling and 40% waste reduction to landfills in 2020.
Based on data from the Ministry of Housing and
Local Government or Kementerian Perumahan dan
Kerajaan Tempatan (KPKT), about 1 million tonnes of plastics were recycled in 2019, followed by nearly 1.5 million tonnes the following year.
Waste-to-energy, chemical recycling and EPR targets
To reach its circular economygoals, Malaysia is proposing reforms to boost its recycling mechanisms, including the formation of integrated Waste-to- Energy (WTE) management facilities, the use of biodegradable technologies that include anaerobic digestion, aerobic enzymes, and black soldier flies; and reinforcing the extended producer responsibility (EPR).
EPR is a policy tool that holds companies responsible for the end-of-life effects of their plastic products and packaging. In addition, policymakers expect biobags to be introduced in the coming years, bolstering the country's ability to obtain value-added renewable feedstock like biofuels, biochemicals, and biopellets, as well as eco-products made from recyclables.
Nevertheless, Malaysia needs to invest more in an efficient waste management infrastructure, from recyclable material collection to chemical recycling and WTE mechanisms for nonrecyclable plastic waste, according to a white paper published in 2019 by the Malaysian
Plastics Manufacturers Association (MPMA) and Malaysian Plastics Recyclers Association
(MPRA).
Making progress, the country has built its first WTE plant, the SMART (Solid Waste Modular Advanced Recovery and Treatment) in Negeri Sembilan, which was developed in a public-private partnership with KPKT by Cypark Resources Bhd. In addition, the company is currently negotiating on two more WTE projects in the states of Johor and Malacca.
Meanwhile, recent advances in chemical recycling are proving to be a viable alternative for plastic waste that is difficult to recycle or cannot be recycled using traditional methods.
Plastic Energy Ltd and Petronas Chemical Group
(PCG) have agreed to work together on a feasibility study to build a facility to convert plastic waste into an optimal feedstock (Tacoil) to produce recycled virgin-quality plastics from low-quality, mixed plastic waste that would otherwise end up in landfills and incinerators.
Furthermore, the partnership would give PCG access to Tacoil for use in its polymer production at the Pengerang Integrated Complex's petrochemical unit.
These efforts, according to MPMA and MPRA, will support Malaysia in transitioning away from low-value, low-technology mechanical recycling, or primary recycling, as a source of resin pellets and toward higher-value feedstock.
To produce higher-value recycled feedstock, with upgrades in equipment and technology, recyclers could potentially increase their contributions to the Malaysian economy by three to four times, from RM15 billion to RM20 billion annually, cited MPMA and MPRA.
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