Plastic waste has a serious impact on human health and biodiversity in the countries that are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In 2021, in just six ASEAN member states (AMS), Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, the amount of mismanaged plastic waste was at least 8.4 million metric tons. The capacity to manage solid and plastic waste varies across these countries due to differing challenges, but all have high rates of mismanaged plastic packaging. While, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam have improved their solid waste and recycling systems, Cambodia lacks the necessary policies and infrastructure to effectively carry out waste segregation at source, and to collect, treat, and dispose of it. Indonesia and the Philippines, which both have thousands of islands, face other unique challenges that require customized waste management solutions. Despite the differences in waste management across these six AMS, they share the same significant plastic waste issue, the mismanagement of flexible packaging and other single-use items, such as food wrappers, plastic bags, takeaway cups, and plastic straws. These countries have largely focused on the downstream stage of waste management, clean up and waste treatment, rather than on the upstream stage of reducing the volume of plastic waste. Moreover, their solid waste management systems lack system-level support, economic incentives, and initiatives that enable upstream and midstream management. Korea has been able to significantly reduce its waste generation and increase its recycling rate through successfully developing and implementing key policies and regulations on waste circularity, as well as providing institutional support that has facilitated significant improvements in waste collection, transport, and the recovery of plastics. This paper presents information on several innovations that Korean entities have employed to improve plastic circularity and the related policies that have paved the way for their implementation.
Authors
- Disclosure Date
- 2024/06/19
- Disclosure Status
- Disclosed
- Doc Name
- Innovations for Plastic Circularity in Korea : Enabling Conditions and Solutions - Supplementary Note for Scaling Innovations for Plastic Circularity with Investment in ASEAN
- Product Line
- Advisory Services & Analytics
- Published in
- United States of America
- Rel Proj ID
- KR-Environment And Climate Change Innovation In East Asia -- P177183
- Sector
- Other Public Administration
- TF No/Name
- TF0B6495-Environment and Climate Change Innovation - Resource Allocatio,TF0B6981-Environment and Climate Change in EAP - Resource Allocation 2
- Theme
- Urban Development,Mitigation,Environmental Health and Pollution Management,Environment and Natural Resource Management,Private Sector Development,Innovation and Technology Policy,Climate change,Urban and Rural Development,Business Enabling Environment,Adaptation
- Unit Owning
- EAP ENR PM 2 (SEAE2)
- Version Type
- Final
- Volume No
- 1
Table of Contents
- _Hlk141215439 13
- Abbreviations and Acronyms 4
- Glossary 5
- Chapter 1. 7
- Background 7
- Chapter 2. 9
- Policy Support for Solid Waste Management and Circularity 9
- Chapter 3 13
- Institutional Support for Circularity 13
- 3.1. Financial support 13
- 3.2 Technology Development 14
- 3.3 Capacity Building 14
- 3.4 Commercialization Support 15
- 3.5 International Cooperation 15
- Chapter 4. 17
- Innovations that Improve Circularity 17
- 4.1. Collection 17
- 4.2. Waste Transport 19
- 4.3. Labeling 19
- 4.4. Sorting 20
- 4.5. Supportive Technologies Used in PET Bottle Single-source Collection. 23
- 4.6. Refill/Reuse 23
- 4.7. Reusable Cup/Container Recovery System 25
- 4.8. Eco-friendly Depolymerization Technology 26
- Chapter 5. 29
- Applicability to countries in the ASEAN Region 29
- Bibliography 30
- Figure 2.2. Financial Incentives Provided to the Public for Environmentally Friendly Actions 11
- Figure 4.1. Segregation Stations and a Clean House Location with Recovered Recyclables 18
- Figure 4.2. Several Types of Waste Collection Vehicles 19
- Figure 4.3. Diagram of the iTainer robot-aided Recovery of Recyclables 21
- Figure 4.4. Using a SuperBin Machine 22
- Figure 4.5. Components of a PET Bottle 23
- Figure 4.6. AI-guided Bottle Ring Cutter 24
- Figure 4.7. Product Displays at Almang Market’s Main Store in Seoul 25
- Figure 4.8. Examples of Machines for Recovering Recyclables in Korea 26
- Figure 4.9. City Oil Field’s Pilot Facility at the Sudokwon Landfill Site in Incheon 27
