Inside one of Asia’s most successful zero-waste communities Published: 29 April 2021 Residents of Kamikatsu, a small town in Japan, readily sort out their refuse in a long-term community programme. Can this success be replicated in other parts of Asia?
Climate Change: A Problem from Beginning to End Published: 22 April 2021 From manufacture to disposal by incineration, plastics pump huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
History: A Plastic Pandora’s Box Published: 22 April 2021 The first plastics produced by scientists and industry in the west imitated ivory and silk, and attracted a limited market. Cheaper production led to the rise of mass popularity globally. Today, Asia has become the largest plastic producer and consumer in the world.
Usage: From a Blessing to a Curse Published: 22 April 2021 Plastics have made life convenient for the world, but exponential growth and misuse have brought problems to Asia, a region unprepared for the resulting deluge of plastic waste.
Throwaway Culture: A World Wallowing in Waste Published: 22 April 2021 Refill, reuse, and recycle used to be the norm in Asia, where people threw little away. Life today is totally different, with plastic rubbish threatening to overwhelm the region.
Health: Harmful and Persistent Published: 22 April 2021 Plastics have critical and irreversible effects on human health, from the extraction of the raw materials needed to create them to the disposal of end products. The ubiquity of plastics in modern life is compounding this.
Gender: Unequal Exposure Published: 22 April 2021 Biologically, women are more likely to be adversely affected by the toxins in plastics. Traditional roles, inequality, and a throwaway culture further amplify these harmful effects, especially in Asia.
Is recycling really the answer to the plastic deluge? Published: 22 April 2021 While the call for consumers to recycle plastic waste is loudly and widely proclaimed by governments and producers, it is only part of the solution to a crisis caused by the proliferation of plastic materials and their ability to endure. What else needs to be done?
Newly launched Plastic Atlas Asia edition provides an Asia-focused overview of the plastic waste crisis Published: 21 April 2021 A series of succinct articles and infographics providing an overview of the key issues behind Asia’s plastic pollution crisis.
Plastic Atlas Asia Edition Published: 21 April 2021 The Plastic Atlas Asia Edition has the hard facts, data and figures to prove that the story of plastic that industry is telling us is a myth. We need urgent and drastic reductions in plastic production and consumption and regulation at the local, national, regional and global level that tackle plastic pollution at the source.
