PLASTIC PACKAGING POLLUTION

Feb. 22, 2020

A new report by the World Wide Fund (WWF) analyses the volume of plastic packaging placed on the market in six rapidly growing Asian economies — China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Key findings of the report:

Single-use plastics and packaging for consumer goods, particularly, increase plastic pollution.
Globally, 36% of plastic usage is for packaging and over a third of it lands up into the environment.
Of the six countries analysed in the report, Malaysia’s per capita plastic packaging consumption is the highest, at 16.78 kg.
China’s annual household packaging consumption is the highest, at 19,765 million tonnes.
In China, plastic films and bags are the most used type of packaged plastic, followed by PET bottles and plastic cups and other containers.
Around 60% of marine plastic pollution originates in these countries and 8 million tonnes of plastic enters the oceans every year. It has projected a 300% increase in plastic packaging between 2010 and 2050.