We can be the generation that ends the plastic crisis

Twelve years ago I set up HOPE, a non-profit to help build public school classrooms in underprivileged communities in the Philippines. We sell millions of bottles of HOPE-branded water to fund these projects. But, as sales grow, so does our concern about where all that plastic is going.

As in many emerging markets, there is little to no recycling infrastructure in the Philippines. Precious tax dollars are already stretched over many urgent, competing priorities such as education and health care, leaving little to manage a large and highly fragmented waste problem. The net result: the Philippines is listed by the Ocean Conservancy as the third-largest ocean plastic polluter in the world.

I realised that in our attempt to solve one societal problem, we were adding to another. So in 2018, I started an experiment. While we encouraged consumers to return HOPE bottles for recycling, we also tried to take responsibility for our own plastic footprint and cleaned up its equivalent from the environment. The a-ha moment came when we hit our targets within the first year: I realised that if I could do it as a small player in a low-margin business, so could larger companies.

And there’s a lot to do. There is approximately nine billion tons of plastic that has been produced from 80 years’ worth of consumption that is still with us today. And even if we collectively reduce the amount of plastic produced globally by 40 per cent, the world would still add another 11 billion metric tons of plastic by 2050. WWF estimates that, if nothing is done, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.

Rapid urbanisation, a growing middle class and inadequate infrastructure for waste management has turned this region into the epicentre of this crisis. Half of the top 10 countries contributing to plastic leakage to rivers and seas are located in ASEAN, according to the World Bank.

That leakage is a threat to our health, food security, livelihoods and the environment. There are now microplastics in every major source of protein, including chicken, fish, beef, and even tofu. A new study published in January 2024 by the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology found microplastics in 96 per cent of the samples of milkfish, one of the most popular species across Southeast Asia which millions rely on for food and livelihood. In another study, fully 100 per cent of human placenta samples tested contained microplastics.  

There are global tailwinds heralding change. UN negotiations on a global plastic waste treaty is scheduled to conclude at the end of this year, and we can all hope that international directives will prompt countries to pass more aggressive extended producer responsibility laws, requiring companies to take action.

But the health of Southeast Asia’s economies, people and environment cannot wait for a consensus for ambitious action which may take years, if it comes at all. Businesses have an incredible opportunity to take leadership on this urgent issue. First, by reducing their upstream consumption of virgin plastic, where they can. And secondly, by helping fund the cleanup of the equivalent of their remaining footprint and help tackle the legacy waste that's choking our region.

Read more: Nanette Medved-Po shares the narrative of her advocacies and of the eco-warriors behind a revolutionary solution to plastic pollution

What are plastic credits, and how can they help?

That’s why we launched PCX Markets in 2021. It’s a for-profit traceable plastic cleanup credits platform, ​which has so far prevented over ​74.4 million kilograms of plastic waste from ​leaking into the environment

One $300 credit can fund the cleanup of 330,000 sachets, while creating incremental incomes for the informal sector and their communities, opportunities for women, reduced disease, and relieving heavily burdened public waste systems. That’s an incredible return on investment for keeping that one ton of plastic from polluting nature.

The Asian Development Bank recognises plastic credits as an effective tool to help bridge the financial gap for governments in managing plastic waste and promote social and economic impact by funding projects that promote women's empowerment and address disparities in the informal waste management system.  

Plastic credits differ from carbon credits, because you can measure, weigh and trace the plastic from collection through to processing—and the impact is delivered today. While some critics allege plastic credits offer companies an excuse to pollute, it’s far from true. We need to reduce upstream plastic and clean up legacy waste. To find new plastic alternatives and responsibly upcycle, recycle or process plastic waste, including low-value plastic that cannot be recycled and will otherwise leak into the environment.

But the health of Southeast Asia’s economies, people and environment cannot wait for a consensus for ambitious action which may take years, if it comes at all. Businesses have an incredible opportunity to take leadership on this urgent issue.

It’s also not enough to just collect it—it has to be dealt with. According to a WWF-McKinsey report, in the Philippines about 74 per cent of plastics that leak into the ocean were initially collected but escaped from open landfills that are located near vulnerable waterways. In emerging markets, a market-based mechanism that incentivises the private sector to fund cleanup, to fund new recycling infrastructure, and to fund a circular economy is a smart way forward.

This crisis has been 80 years in the making.  All the plastic we’ve ever created is largely still with us today.  Southeast Asia is at the epicentre of the crisis. It would be incredible if Southeast Asia led the way in solving this problem. We can take action in our own markets and in our own communities to tackle the plastic waste crisis. The brands we love can take leadership by accelerating plastic responsibility.

We can be the generation that ends the plastic waste crisis. And we can be the region that shows the world how it can be done.

‍This op-ed was originally published in Tatler Asia. You can read the article here.