Plastic consumption in Cambodia is synonymous with everyday life, particularly the free plastic bags in traditional markets. In Phnom Penh alone, around 10 million plastic bags are used every day. It is a pervasive reality at all levels of the supply chain, not just in the service sector – especially hard to recycle single-use plastic bags.
This scenario suggests conditions for plastic circularity implementation in the Southeast Asian country should be ideal, but Cambodia does not recycle its plastic.
Our team recently spoke with solid waste management (SWM) expert Dr Yim Mongtoeun, Deputy Head of the Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Royal University of Phnom Penh. Dr Mongtoeun obtained a PhD in Environmental Science from the Okayama University of Japan, where he started his research on Phnom Penh’s SWM. He shared with us his thoughts on waste management infrastructure challenges, the lack of government knowledge of the plastic problem and vision to implement solutions in Cambodia, and living in harmony with plastics.
The Centre: Why does Cambodia not recycle its plastic? Is cost a factor?
It is cheaper to collect and pack the recyclables and send them to other countries. Even producers prefer to import by-products or semi-products from Viet Nam, China, and Thailand than to make various plastic products themselves. And they do not need to spend on workers and waste water coming from cleaning the recyclable plastics, which needs to be treated.
Combined with a lack of waste management infrastructure, effective recycling of the plastic waste in Cambodia is nearly impossible. As a result, our waterways and green spaces are burgeoning heaps of plastic and garbage.
Cambodia's electricity costs are also higher than in neighbouring countries, which is another SWM issue. Given that recycling is an electricity-heavy industry, this reduces the competitiveness of any Cambodian business in the field. Cleansing plastic waste materials, water consumption, and technology all require additional expenditure. There are also concerns over weak governance and law enforcement, which deter investors from financing SWM pilot projects.
How does municipal solid waste collection and management work in Phnom Penh?
Solid waste management is crucial for saving resources and protecting the environment, especially in cities, where solid waste is predominantly generated.
Tourism, attractions, and the reputation of a country can be affected by the cleanliness of a city. Improper management of solid waste can cause problems, such as foul odours, destruction of infrastructure, and drainage clogging, which leads to water-disease transmission, and plastics and microplastics from leachate water could also affect the seafood we consume and thereby affect our health.
In terms of municipal SWM in Phnom Penh, the law, regulations, and policies all fall under the authority of the Ministry of Environment; but control and monitoring lie with the Phnom Penh city or other municipalities. Solid waste collection, transport and disposal are contracted between the municipalities of each province and private waste collectors, while landfills or dump sites are managed, controlled and monitored by the municipality.
In Phnom Penh, solid waste management is currently contracted by khans (districts) to four main private contractors responsible for waste collection, transport, and disposal. The municipalities control dumpsite maintenance.
The new system, the delegation of waste collection to khans, started in July 2021. One private company is usually responsible for four or five districts or khans. No more leachates are leakingoff garbage trucks, and the waste trucks are visibly cleaner than before. With clear task assignments, private-public partnership plays a vital role in preventing plastic debris from leaking into the ocean, and in cleaning the neighbourhood.
Also read: Crossing The Border Without Passport: Where Our Plastics End Up
These companies are then responsible for the collection, transport, and disposal within those khans. Next, the municipal hall controls the maintenance of the dumpsites.
Proper SWM helps recover some resources and protects the environment. One of my ongoing projects is related to controlled landfill design in Pursat and Kampong Chhnang provinces, where construction is nearly finished supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB); and another study to create the first sanitary landfill in Siem Reap was recently completed, supported by the World Bank (WB). I work with national and international consultants to choose suitable sites for new landfills, and my team is mindful of placement by considering nearby residential, cultural heritage, and school sites. I also have ongoing projects to rehabilitate existing landfills.
What are the SWM challenges in Cambodia?
Cambodia does not have any controlled or sanitary landfills, only Dangkor landfill in Phnom Penh – a semi sanitary landfill when started in 2009 that now looks like an open dumpster due to poor management and a rapid increase in waste. The mountainous waste from over-dumping has caused leachate water to leak and flow directly into the local canal.
The Cambodia government has attemptedto mitigate the leachate water issue by providing landfills with proper liners and covering them to prevent water pollution following relevant standards. The government has also received a loan from outside sources to improve environmental infrastructure in each town, including SWM and landfills.
The Dangkor landfill, which is to operate for eight years (from 2022-2030), is already at its maximum capacity, with around 3,000 tonnes of waste collected and dumped there every day. It receives 83.3% of Phnom Penh's waste, while waste collection efficiency for the provinces remains very low at 40-60%.
Other challenges include limited waste collection services, rapid urbanisation and population growth, lack of safe disposal sites, poor waste collection efficiency, and excessive waste packaging.
Cambodia has existing legislation and inter-ministerial declarations regulating SWM and the discarding of municipal solid waste material. The government has actively tried to raise awareness and encourage behavioural change through campaigns on social media, radio, and TV, and the creation of inter-ministerial declaration boards showing fines and criminal punishment for improper disposal in many places.
But even with this government campaign, soon you will see a lot of waste near the warnings. Perhaps weak law enforcement and the lack of government implementation capacity are part of the problem. The government does not set up enough public trash bins while putting up the campaigns, and irregular collection caused a heap of waste, so people do not know where to throw away their litter.
Furthermore, government bodies at the sub-national level lack experience, knowledge, and resources – including human capital/finance. These difficulties, in turn, result in the misidentification of core issues, mishandling of resource allocation, and a general lack of vision and action plans to rectify the situation.
Also read: How Plastics Ingestion is Killing the Marine Life in the Philippines
Despite the problems, the outlook for fighting plastic waste in Cambodia is not all doom and gloom, and new initiatives are emerging. The Ministry of Environment introduced new regulations for plastic bag usage in April 2022, and major supermarkets such as AEON and Lucky are now charging 10 cents per bag. The ministry is alsoconsidering plans for jute bags as an alternative.
Incentives or subsidies for plastic recyclers have social and environmental benefits. But given the current shortage of plastic recycling facilities and the lack of infrastructural readiness to welcome recycling industries in Cambodia, my recommendation is to focus on reducing single-use plastics. The way forward for Cambodia is to introduce eco-friendly plastic alternative materials to replace altogether single-use plastic products.
Encouraging people to reduce their plastic consumption by offering a discount for those who bring their tumblers to shopping malls/cafes is another viable proposition. Education paired with conscious behaviour change is also essential to nudge individuals toward better waste management habits. In the bigger scheme, I propose increasing the tax on plastic imports to encourage local investors to start up recycling businesses, especially for plastic.
Getting some of our resources back and safeguarding the environment with good SWM involves composting and recycling – especially when most solid rubbish consists of food waste, followed by plastic litter. Composting helps fertilise plants to grow more food and trees to help reduce CO2 emissions.
While recycling could save the planet by reducing the usage and processing of virgin materials, successful recycling businesses can also be very financially rewarding – in Thailand, the people in the recycling business become very rich.
With effective instruments, living in harmony with plastics is possible. Plastic is everywhere and in everything. Even our clothes are made of plastics. So, it is important to keep in mind that plastic is our friend, not our enemy.
Also read: Ocean Under Stress: The Insidious Effects of Microplastics on Our Coral Reef
All photos courtesy of Dr Yim Mongtoeun
Deputy Head of the Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Royal University of Phnom Penh
Plastic consumption in Cambodia is synonymous with everyday life, particularly the free plastic bags in traditional markets. In Phnom Penh alone, around 10 million plastic bags are used every day. It is a pervasive reality at all levels of the supply chain, not just in the service sector – especially hard to recycle single-use plastic bags.
This scenario suggests conditions for plastic circularity implementation in the Southeast Asian country should be ideal, but Cambodia does not recycle its plastic.
Our team recently spoke with solid waste management (SWM) expert Dr Yim Mongtoeun, Deputy Head of the Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Royal University of Phnom Penh. Dr Mongtoeun obtained a PhD in Environmental Science from the Okayama University of Japan, where he started his research on Phnom Penh’s SWM. He shared with us his thoughts on waste management infrastructure challenges, the lack of government knowledge of the plastic problem and vision to implement solutions in Cambodia, and living in harmony with plastics.
The Centre: Why does Cambodia not recycle its plastic? Is cost a factor?
It is cheaper to collect and pack the recyclables and send them to other countries. Even producers prefer to import by-products or semi-products from Viet Nam, China, and Thailand than to make various plastic products themselves. And they do not need to spend on workers and waste water coming from cleaning the recyclable plastics, which needs to be treated.
Combined with a lack of waste management infrastructure, effective recycling of the plastic waste in Cambodia is nearly impossible. As a result, our waterways and green spaces are burgeoning heaps of plastic and garbage.
Cambodia's electricity costs are also higher than in neighbouring countries, which is another SWM issue. Given that recycling is an electricity-heavy industry, this reduces the competitiveness of any Cambodian business in the field. Cleansing plastic waste materials, water consumption, and technology all require additional expenditure. There are also concerns over weak governance and law enforcement, which deter investors from financing SWM pilot projects.
How does municipal solid waste collection and management work in Phnom Penh?
Solid waste management is crucial for saving resources and protecting the environment, especially in cities, where solid waste is predominantly generated.
Tourism, attractions, and the reputation of a country can be affected by the cleanliness of a city. Improper management of solid waste can cause problems, such as foul odours, destruction of infrastructure, and drainage clogging, which leads to water-disease transmission, and plastics and microplastics from leachate water could also affect the seafood we consume and thereby affect our health.
In terms of municipal SWM in Phnom Penh, the law, regulations, and policies all fall under the authority of the Ministry of Environment; but control and monitoring lie with the Phnom Penh city or other municipalities. Solid waste collection, transport and disposal are contracted between the municipalities of each province and private waste collectors, while landfills or dump sites are managed, controlled and monitored by the municipality.
In Phnom Penh, solid waste management is currently contracted by khans (districts) to four main private contractors responsible for waste collection, transport, and disposal. The municipalities control dumpsite maintenance.
The new system, the delegation of waste collection to khans, started in July 2021. One private company is usually responsible for four or five districts or khans. No more leachates are leakingoff garbage trucks, and the waste trucks are visibly cleaner than before. With clear task assignments, private-public partnership plays a vital role in preventing plastic debris from leaking into the ocean, and in cleaning the neighbourhood.
Also read: Crossing The Border Without Passport: Where Our Plastics End Up
These companies are then responsible for the collection, transport, and disposal within those khans. Next, the municipal hall controls the maintenance of the dumpsites.
Proper SWM helps recover some resources and protects the environment. One of my ongoing projects is related to controlled landfill design in Pursat and Kampong Chhnang provinces, where construction is nearly finished supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB); and another study to create the first sanitary landfill in Siem Reap was recently completed, supported by the World Bank (WB). I work with national and international consultants to choose suitable sites for new landfills, and my team is mindful of placement by considering nearby residential, cultural heritage, and school sites. I also have ongoing projects to rehabilitate existing landfills.
What are the SWM challenges in Cambodia?
Cambodia does not have any controlled or sanitary landfills, only Dangkor landfill in Phnom Penh – a semi sanitary landfill when started in 2009 that now looks like an open dumpster due to poor management and a rapid increase in waste. The mountainous waste from over-dumping has caused leachate water to leak and flow directly into the local canal.
The Cambodia government has attemptedto mitigate the leachate water issue by providing landfills with proper liners and covering them to prevent water pollution following relevant standards. The government has also received a loan from outside sources to improve environmental infrastructure in each town, including SWM and landfills.
The Dangkor landfill, which is to operate for eight years (from 2022-2030), is already at its maximum capacity, with around 3,000 tonnes of waste collected and dumped there every day. It receives 83.3% of Phnom Penh's waste, while waste collection efficiency for the provinces remains very low at 40-60%.
Other challenges include limited waste collection services, rapid urbanisation and population growth, lack of safe disposal sites, poor waste collection efficiency, and excessive waste packaging.
Cambodia has existing legislation and inter-ministerial declarations regulating SWM and the discarding of municipal solid waste material. The government has actively tried to raise awareness and encourage behavioural change through campaigns on social media, radio, and TV, and the creation of inter-ministerial declaration boards showing fines and criminal punishment for improper disposal in many places.
But even with this government campaign, soon you will see a lot of waste near the warnings. Perhaps weak law enforcement and the lack of government implementation capacity are part of the problem. The government does not set up enough public trash bins while putting up the campaigns, and irregular collection caused a heap of waste, so people do not know where to throw away their litter.
Furthermore, government bodies at the sub-national level lack experience, knowledge, and resources – including human capital/finance. These difficulties, in turn, result in the misidentification of core issues, mishandling of resource allocation, and a general lack of vision and action plans to rectify the situation.
Also read: How Plastics Ingestion is Killing the Marine Life in the Philippines
Despite the problems, the outlook for fighting plastic waste in Cambodia is not all doom and gloom, and new initiatives are emerging. The Ministry of Environment introduced new regulations for plastic bag usage in April 2022, and major supermarkets such as AEON and Lucky are now charging 10 cents per bag. The ministry is alsoconsidering plans for jute bags as an alternative.
Incentives or subsidies for plastic recyclers have social and environmental benefits. But given the current shortage of plastic recycling facilities and the lack of infrastructural readiness to welcome recycling industries in Cambodia, my recommendation is to focus on reducing single-use plastics. The way forward for Cambodia is to introduce eco-friendly plastic alternative materials to replace altogether single-use plastic products.
Encouraging people to reduce their plastic consumption by offering a discount for those who bring their tumblers to shopping malls/cafes is another viable proposition. Education paired with conscious behaviour change is also essential to nudge individuals toward better waste management habits. In the bigger scheme, I propose increasing the tax on plastic imports to encourage local investors to start up recycling businesses, especially for plastic.
Getting some of our resources back and safeguarding the environment with good SWM involves composting and recycling – especially when most solid rubbish consists of food waste, followed by plastic litter. Composting helps fertilise plants to grow more food and trees to help reduce CO2 emissions.
While recycling could save the planet by reducing the usage and processing of virgin materials, successful recycling businesses can also be very financially rewarding – in Thailand, the people in the recycling business become very rich.
With effective instruments, living in harmony with plastics is possible. Plastic is everywhere and in everything. Even our clothes are made of plastics. So, it is important to keep in mind that plastic is our friend, not our enemy.
Also read: Ocean Under Stress: The Insidious Effects of Microplastics on Our Coral Reef
All photos courtesy of Dr Yim Mongtoeun
Deputy Head of the Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Royal University of Phnom Penh
