Southeast Asia is the world's largest source of marine plastic waste, a problem that poses acute risks to the region's environments, people and economies.
This is why we should celebrate the fact that 175 countries, including Thailand, agreed in March to formulate the UN Global Plastics Treaty as a legally binding international agreement to end plastic pollution. Many see this landmark agreement as the most important environmental accord since the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Global commitment is essential because, if left unabated, plastic pollution will have a devastating effect on our social and environmental health. Local efforts to reduce plastic waste cannot by themselves solve this regional and global problem. This is evident in Southeast Asia, where six of Asean's 10 member states produce more than 31 million tonnes of plastic waste in a year, according to the World Bank, much of which ends up in the region's highly connected waterways and seas.
Fortunately, the region is already home to a vibrant ecosystem of people and organisations committed to tackling this critical issue. The new global commitment will lend greater support to their efforts to not only preserve our natural heritage, but to also build a more inclusive, circular economy that supports innovation, creates sustainable jobs and empowers marginalised groups, especially informal waste workers.
The Incubation Network is committed to helping build a stronger regional sustainability innovation ecosystem. Since 2019, we have worked with many stakeholders ranging from startups, entrepreneurs and informal waste workers to academic institutions, governments and large corporations. We believe that building connections, providing access to mentorship and technical support and linking innovators with great ideas to potential investors can help establish stronger regional solutions faster.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to plastic pollution; nuanced insights are essential to solving local challenges, but there are multiple opportunities to gain knowledge across markets and avoid reinventing the wheel. This can help accelerate and amplify the scale and impact of ideas that work, as well as develop regional solutions.
The Thailand Waste Management & Recycling Academy, which provided training and weekly mentoring to 11 early-stage Thai startups, is facilitated by Seedstars, which has mentored and upskilled entrepreneurs in more than 90 countries. In February, the entrepreneurs pitched their solutions, ranging from automatic plastic waste drop-off machines to developing a recycling process for bioplastics, to an expert panel. Four successful candidates were selected to progress to the next stage and to be supported by The Incubation Network and Seedstars.
Informal waste workers, such as the saleng and waste pickers in Thailand, play a critical role in plastic waste collection. In Thailand alone, where more than 30,000 government-registered businesses buy materials from them, there must be at least hundreds of thousands of people engaged in this work.
The individual and societal benefits of empowering informal waste workers are manifold. In India, our project partner EcoSattva Environmental Solutions has worked with female informal waste workers to build skills such as basic mathematics and driving to help enable greater mobility and income generation. This not only helps them collect and sell waste more efficiently, it also provides the foundations for securing safer, better paid work.
Engaging the informal sector can help provide the people who form the backbone of the circular plastic ecosystem with better working conditions, improved incomes and efficiencies that ultimately lead to more plastic being reclaimed.
In Indonesia, the Ocean Plastic Prevention Accelerator (OPPA) last year ran an innovation challenge, which selected 12 startups from around the world to help tackle the complex issue of informal plastic waste collection in the country. The programme led to the formation of 11 partnerships, with six participants selected to scale their solutions with combined support of US$45,000.
OPPA offers a good example of how to build an inclusive, collaborative network to prevent marine plastic leakage by engaging stakeholders at every level of society, from policymakers to informal waste workers.
Beyond the long-term environmental benefits, reducing plastic pollution can help empower people, increase quality of life, launch new businesses and create the green and blue jobs needed to tackle the problem. World Bank data shows that 75% of the material value of plastics, about $6 billion per year, are lost. Imagine how capturing that value would benefit developing economies in a region that produces more than 30 million tonnes of plastic waste a year.
The challenges in Southeast Asia are stark, but I am inspired and comforted by the knowledge that bright minds around the region are not only showing that innovation is possible, but they're also proving we can achieve more by approaching this problem together.
Simon Baldwin is director of The Incubation Network and global head of Circularity for SecondMuse.