On 30 July 2025, the OECD launched the Regional Plastics Outlook for Southeast and East Asia Report through its OECD Green Talks LIVE webinar, titled ‘Securing a Sustainable Plastics Future for Southeast and East Asia’.
The report provides a comprehensive quantification of plastic use, waste, and leakage across ASEAN Plus Three countries. It offers a stocktake of current policies, presents baseline projections to 2050, outlines robust policy packages to eliminate plastic leakage in the region, and recommends a policy roadmap to support the design and implementation of effective plastic policies.
During the webinar, key highlights and findings from the report were presented. These included the surge in plastic use in the region – from 152 million tonnes (Mt) in 2022 to 280 Mt in 2050 – leading to increased plastic waste generation and leakage into the environment. While policy action is accelerating, progress remains uneven due to limited capacity, financial constraints, and fragmented governance. However, ASEAN Plus Three countries can nearly eliminate plastic leakage in the region by implementing stringent policies across the plastic lifecycle, supported by strong policy design and implementation.
The report also underscores the critical need for financing. Ending plastic pollution will require enhanced capacity building, stronger enforcement, and increased regional cooperation. The findings stress the urgency of further action to address this pressing issue, protect livelihoods, and safeguard planetary health.
During the panel session, Mr Indradhi Faisal Ibrahim, Capacity Building Expert at ERIA’s Regional Knowledge Centre for Marine Plastic Debris, emphasised how data and recommendations from the report can support capacity development in ASEAN, enabling policymakers to craft more effective evidence-based policies.
He outlined key opportunities to address the challenges behind the region’s uneven progress:
Building policymaking capacity at both national and local government levels
Leveraging innovative financing, including blended finance and extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes
Enhancing inter-agency coordination to streamline efforts in tackling plastic pollution
He emphasised that the report’s ‘High Stringency’ scenario is not only environmentally beneficial but also economically modest in general – especially considering that even the current scenario still incurs high costs. However, he underscored the importance of tailoring strategies to national and local contexts, with institutions like ERIA continuing to provide technical and policy support.
Mr Ibrahim also noted the opportunity to further analyse co-benefits such as public health, biodiversity, and cross-cutting sectors including tourism and fisheries. Such data can help boost policymakers’ confidence to pursue more ambitious targets, showing that these goals are achievable and justifiable when grounded in evidence and context-specific implementation.
Looking ahead to the INC 5.2, he expressed hope that ASEAN can demonstrate stronger commitment that may unlock additional opportunities for technical assistance, capacity building, and financial support. He concluded by encouraging stakeholders to use the report to raise awareness, build targeted capacity, promote data and monitoring harmonisation, and foster peer learning.
The webinar also featured a panel discussion with other distinguished speakers:
Ms Noriko Tamiya-Hase, Deputy Director of the Office of Policies against Marine Plastic Pollution at Japan’s Ministry of the Environment. She shared Japan’s efforts and policy approaches – including a mix of voluntary and regulatory measures – on waste management, harmonisation, and regional cooperation.
Ms Bunga Karnisa, Community and Project Coordinator of the Indonesia National Plastic Action Partnership at World Resources Institute Indonesia. She discussed the status of plastic policies in Indonesia, highlighting recent successes and ongoing challenges in addressing plastic pollution.
Ms Junu Shrestha, Senior Environmental Specialist at The World Bank. She provided a global perspective on the report’s alignment with upcoming INC-5.2 negotiations on a global plastics treaty, and its relevance within ASEAN Plus Three and beyond.
The report was financially supported by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, with ERIA serving as the technical partner.
Capacity Building Expert
On 30 July 2025, the OECD launched the Regional Plastics Outlook for Southeast and East Asia Report through its OECD Green Talks LIVE webinar, titled ‘Securing a Sustainable Plastics Future for Southeast and East Asia’.
The report provides a comprehensive quantification of plastic use, waste, and leakage across ASEAN Plus Three countries. It offers a stocktake of current policies, presents baseline projections to 2050, outlines robust policy packages to eliminate plastic leakage in the region, and recommends a policy roadmap to support the design and implementation of effective plastic policies.
During the webinar, key highlights and findings from the report were presented. These included the surge in plastic use in the region – from 152 million tonnes (Mt) in 2022 to 280 Mt in 2050 – leading to increased plastic waste generation and leakage into the environment. While policy action is accelerating, progress remains uneven due to limited capacity, financial constraints, and fragmented governance. However, ASEAN Plus Three countries can nearly eliminate plastic leakage in the region by implementing stringent policies across the plastic lifecycle, supported by strong policy design and implementation.
The report also underscores the critical need for financing. Ending plastic pollution will require enhanced capacity building, stronger enforcement, and increased regional cooperation. The findings stress the urgency of further action to address this pressing issue, protect livelihoods, and safeguard planetary health.
During the panel session, Mr Indradhi Faisal Ibrahim, Capacity Building Expert at ERIA’s Regional Knowledge Centre for Marine Plastic Debris, emphasised how data and recommendations from the report can support capacity development in ASEAN, enabling policymakers to craft more effective evidence-based policies.
He outlined key opportunities to address the challenges behind the region’s uneven progress:
Building policymaking capacity at both national and local government levels
Leveraging innovative financing, including blended finance and extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes
Enhancing inter-agency coordination to streamline efforts in tackling plastic pollution
He emphasised that the report’s ‘High Stringency’ scenario is not only environmentally beneficial but also economically modest in general – especially considering that even the current scenario still incurs high costs. However, he underscored the importance of tailoring strategies to national and local contexts, with institutions like ERIA continuing to provide technical and policy support.
Mr Ibrahim also noted the opportunity to further analyse co-benefits such as public health, biodiversity, and cross-cutting sectors including tourism and fisheries. Such data can help boost policymakers’ confidence to pursue more ambitious targets, showing that these goals are achievable and justifiable when grounded in evidence and context-specific implementation.
Looking ahead to the INC 5.2, he expressed hope that ASEAN can demonstrate stronger commitment that may unlock additional opportunities for technical assistance, capacity building, and financial support. He concluded by encouraging stakeholders to use the report to raise awareness, build targeted capacity, promote data and monitoring harmonisation, and foster peer learning.
The webinar also featured a panel discussion with other distinguished speakers:
Ms Noriko Tamiya-Hase, Deputy Director of the Office of Policies against Marine Plastic Pollution at Japan’s Ministry of the Environment. She shared Japan’s efforts and policy approaches – including a mix of voluntary and regulatory measures – on waste management, harmonisation, and regional cooperation.
Ms Bunga Karnisa, Community and Project Coordinator of the Indonesia National Plastic Action Partnership at World Resources Institute Indonesia. She discussed the status of plastic policies in Indonesia, highlighting recent successes and ongoing challenges in addressing plastic pollution.
Ms Junu Shrestha, Senior Environmental Specialist at The World Bank. She provided a global perspective on the report’s alignment with upcoming INC-5.2 negotiations on a global plastics treaty, and its relevance within ASEAN Plus Three and beyond.
The report was financially supported by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, with ERIA serving as the technical partner.
Capacity Building Expert
