ARDCE 2026: More Regional Cooperation Needed for Plastics Recycling in Asean
Policy alignment across plastic recycling streams will be vital to accelerating Southeast Asia’s broader circular economy, public- and private-sector leaders said at the Asean Regional Dialogue on Circular Economy held in Makati, the Philippines on Tuesday and Wednesday.
While there has been a growing number of corporate sustainability commitments and tightening extended producer responsibility or EPR laws, Southeast Asia still faces a widening supply shortfall of high-grade recycled resins due to its fragmented waste-sorting infrastructure and lack of standardized regional specifications for recycled polyethylene terephthalate or rPET and polyolefins.
Asean’s Potential
“Southeast Asia’s growth has been accompanied by rising consumption and expanding industry. Today, that growth is generating waste, from plastics packaging to electrical and electronic waste, faster than our cities, markets and ecosystems can absorb. The linear model of take, make and dispose is reaching its limits,” Kao Kim Hourn, Asean secretary general said during his opening speech.
“As much as 45% of global greenhouse gas emissions are tied directly to how we make and use products, and addressing that is where the circular economy has real power,” he added.
Asean generates 24.5 million metric tons of plastic waste a year, but private capital only captures 3% share, according to the Asian Development Bank.
EPR a Good Start, But Need to Tap on Other Mechanisms Too
Within Asean, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia currently run EPR schemes.
“EPR is an important instrument, but it needs to sit alongside financing, local government action, social inclusion and behavioral change,” Kao said.
For the plastics sector, this means redesigning packaging, managing bioplastic, developing reuse ecosystems and strengthening collection, Susi Nurmayanti, senior expert directorate of waste reduction and circular economy from Indonesia’s Development Ministry of Environment said during her presentation.
EPR also needs to work alongside supporting policies like minimum recycled content mandates to ensure that products can be received and are designed for recycling, Dhaartshini Senguttuvan, advocacy and public affairs manager with the Malaysian Recycling Alliance said on a panel.
“There is no shortage of [circular economy] projects in Asean,” Christine Chan, principal urban development specialist with the Asian Development Bank said during her presentation. While there is a plethora of foundational collection fleets and composting landfills, the gap lies in the risk allocation and financing of emerging catalysts such as automated material recovery facilities and digital traceability and in frontier opportunities such as chemical recycling of flexibles and bio-based substitution, Chan also said.
More Policy Alignment Needed
Several speakers stressed the need for Asean to harmonize material specifications, definitions and regulations, especially in the face of new European Union waste legislation, to ensure recycled raw materials can circulate both within the region and reach global markets.
Asean needs to harmonize eco-labelling, technical specifications for food contact safety standards and eco-modulated EPR fees so that a recycler can serve 11 markets rather than one, Chan added.
Traceability will be key moving forward, not just for compliance but to build a regional circular value chain, several speakers noted.
“If the material has no data, we call it waste. If we don’t know what it is and what is inside it, it is waste,” said Nudjarin Ramungul, research specialist at the Thai National Metal and Materials Technology Center.
“Let’s say we’re trying to add 30% of the recycled materials into the new stream, we think that we are saving 30% of materials, right? But if we don’t know what’s inside it, we not only fail to close the loop, but we are sending the 70% virgin material to a death sentence,” Nudjarin added.
A unique consideration for several Asean nations would also be how waste streams can remain segregated to be halal vs non-halal, Senguttuvan said.
Some, however, were more skeptical about the possibility of harmonization and called for more immediate action.
“I don’t believe Asean is capable of harmonization,” said Chris Humphrey, executive director of the EU-ASEAN Business Council said. “We are now two decades into the Asean Economic Community and only one sector has harmonized standards, and that’s cosmetics. What you can best hope for is regulatory alignment and alignment around principles…we need to stop talking and start doing.”
According to OPIS data, regular rPET post-consumer recycled or PCR flakes were assessed at $817.00 per metric ton FOB Southeast Asia for the week ended Sept. 18, increasing $4.00/mt from the previous week. Premium PCR flakes rose $5.3575/mt to $915.3575/mt FOB from $910/mt over the same period. rPET PCR pellets increased by $33.00/mt to $1,196/mt FOB Asia, from $1,163/mt the previous week.
—Reporting by Carman Chew, carman.chew@dowjones.com; Editing by Mei-Hwen Wong, mei-hwen.wong@dowjones.com