This picture taken on June 4, 2018 shows a man sorting through used plastic bottles at a junkyard in Hanoi. (Photo: AFP)Hanoi (VNA) – Southeast Asia is home to the world’s top marine plasticpolluters and environmental protection goals set by the governments of regionalcountries are insufficient, warned experts on World Environment Day (June 5).
Globally,some 8 million tonnes of plastic is dumped into the oceans every year, threateningthe marine life and entering the human food chain, according to the UnitedNations Environment Programme.
FiveAsian countries, including China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam andThailand, account for up to 60 percent of the plastic waste leaking into theoceans, according to a 2015 report by the environmental campaigner OceanConservancy and the McKinsey Centre for Business and Environment.
Thefive economies have "generated exploding demand for consumerproducts", the report said, but lacked the waste management infrastructureto cope with the surge in plastic garbage.
InThailand, months after the military seized power in a 2014 coup, the junta madewaste management a priority and set goals for 2021.
Theyincluded cutting the use of plastic bags and bottles in government agencies andbusinesses and plastic bans in tourist destinations. A tax on plastic bags wasalso mentioned, along with a target to recycle up to 60 percent of plastic by2021.
Othergovernments have also set ambitious goals. Indonesia, ranked second behindChina in the 2015 study of mismanaged plastic waste from communities livingnear coastal areas in 192 countries, has pledged 1 billion USD a year to reducemarine plastic debris by 70 percent by 2025.
ThePhilippines has not imposed a nationwide ban on plastic bags, but some localauthorities regulate the use of the products. Some shopping malls have alsoreplaced plastic bags with paper ones and encouraged reusable bags.
Malaysiais likely to introduce a nationwide ban on plastic bags soon, said governmentofficials.
AnchaleePipattanawattanakul, an ocean campaigner with Greenpeace in Southeast Asia,said the region needs a coordinated strategy on plastic waste. She noted thatASEAN countries are aware of the issue, but there is no action plan that willactually decrease the use of plastic.
SusanRuffo, Ocean Conservancy's managing director for international initiatives,stated that recognising the impact of plastic waste is not just a governmentresponsibility, as corporations, civil society and citizens all have a part toplay.-VNA
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