GEO-6 Regional Assessment for Asia and the Pacific


Marine litter


Marine litter, from various human activities, both on land and at sea and is an emerging environmental issue. There are about 18 000 pieces of plastic on the surface of every square kilometre of the world’s oceans, and these are augmented by an estimated 4.8–12.7 million tonnes of plastic waste that enter the oceans every year (UNEP and ISWA 2015), much of it collecting in the five sub-tropical ocean gyres, forming floating garbage patches (UNEP 2006). Asia and the Pacific has a large ocean area and thus is facing a rise in marine litter, mainly plastics waste. In the waters around Australia, up to 70 per cent of the marine litter that enters the sea ends up on the seabed, while 90 per cent of floating marine litter is plastic or polystyrene. In Indonesia alone, 690 000 items were found to be present per square kilometre on the seafloor and 29.1 items per square metre on the shorelines (Greenpeace undated).


Waste management


Waste avoidance and reduction have not received the attention they deserve in the developing countries of Asia and the Pacific.


Waste avoidance and reduction is the first priority in an integrated waste management hierarchy, followed by reuse, recycling and disposal. As in many other regions of the world, waste avoidance and reduction have not received enough attention in Asia and the Pacific. Beginning in the 2000s, concepts such as cleaner production, the 3Rs, design for environment, extended producer responsibility, circular economy and green growth emerged. Much of the progress so far, however, is in economically more developed countries such as Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand and Australia (UNEP and ISWA 2015), while most of the region’s developing countries still struggle to implement end-of-pipe treatment, and proactive or preventative measures are only now emerging.


Waste collection rates range from low to moderate in Asia and the Pacific’s developing countries, with waste separation and collection at their highest levels in the developed countries of the region.


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Waste separation and collection are a very important part of municipal solid waste management, with the promotion of separation at source and efficient collection systems playing important roles in recycling. Waste collection efficiency varies by region, income level within countries and cities. According to the Global Waste Management Outlook, the average collection rate in low-income countries is 36 per cent, in lower-middle income countries 64 per cent, in upper- middle income countries 82 per cent, and almost 100 per cent in high-income countries (UNEP and ISWA 2015).


In the developing countries of Asia and the Pacific, waste collection rates are moderate, at 40–80 per cent, but reach almost 100 per cent in more developed economies such as Japan, Australia, Republic of Korea and Singapore (Waste Atlas, 2015). In developed economies, collection is capital- intensive and mechanized while in developing countries, it still is labour intensive and usually lacks a good transfer stations system (UNEP and ISWA 2015)). Waste separation at source is a common practice in more developed countries while in low- and middle-income countries, there has been informal waste separation with different types of waste collected separately for transfer to a facility and recycling.


There is tremendous potential for waste resource recovery in Asia and the Pacific, however, recycling rates are generally low and mainly carried out in the informal sector.


With rising waste generation and new waste streams such as e-waste, food waste, construction and demolition waste, the region’s potential for recycling is very high. In general, recycling rates in high-income countries have increased progressively over the past 30 years, while in lower-income countries the informal sector often only achieves recycling rates of 20–30 per cent for municipal solid waste (UNEPand ISWA 2015).


Biomass waste is usually reused or recycled in Asia and the Pacific. In many rural towns, backyard composting is a long- standing tradition; pig and poultry farmers routinely collect food waste from households and restaurants for animal feed and some large cities have set up mechanical composting plants.


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