Asean framework fails to protect SE Asia from plastic tsunami

However, the Framework falls short of addressing the plastic pollution problem at root, by giving more focus to waste management rather than the need to reduce the production of single use plastics so that they don’t end up as waste.
Plastic is a pollution problem, not a litter problem, and must be addressed throughout its life cycle, from production to end of life. Limiting the Framework’s scope to marine debris focuses merely on waste recovery, management and disposal issues. It ignores the urgent need for nations to focus on the “upstream”, and drastically reduce plastic production.
To effectively reduce plastic pollution, whether on land or at sea, Asean nations must go beyond this Framework and institute policies at home that cut single-use plastic production drastically. This can be done through regulations and bans on single-use plastics, and laws that will facilitate redesign of packaging and product delivery systems.
Most importantly, the Framework failed to address the problem of waste imports. Asean nations have been struggling against the waste trade, which has serious ecological and social consequences. Asean’s non-action on the waste trade issue was alarming given the summit was the best time to address it.
Greenpeace reiterates our recommendations for Asean to:
1. Impose an immediate ban on all imports of plastic waste, even those 
meant for “recycling” and ensure all Asean countries ratify the Basel Ban Amendment.
2. Establish a holistic regional policy geared toward massively reducing the production of single-use plastic packaging and products, and facilitating innovation on reusable packaging and alternative delivery systems. 
3. Advance a sustainable and ethical circular economy framework, grounded on zero waste approaches, that protect human health and the environment, and enable the Asean region to decouple growth from excessive resource extraction, production, consumption and wastage.
Greenpeace Southeast Asia