Eco-Business

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Casnadi, who works Southeast Asia's largest landfill near Jakarta, Indonesia

Multinational consumer goods brands have gone cold on recycled plastic – now priced higher than virgin – and look likely to miss their 2025 recycling targets. Recyclers in Asia are suffering as a result, particularly waste pickers at the vulnerable end of the value chain.

Negotiations have not been going smoothly, leaving the future of a binding treaty hanging in the balance, observes Li Jiacheng.

The co-founder of Earth Company and owner of Mana Earthly Paradise hotel tells Eco-Business about the perils of over-tourism in Bali and the huge potential for affordable eco-resorts in Asia.

With Jakarta's only landfill near bursting point, an Indonesian maggot farmer has a sustainable solution for the city's food waste.

By Jackson Ambole, Emma Bryce

By Rhick Lars Albay

By Gabrielle See

Thomson Reuters Foundation

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Sportswear, athleisure and sneakers are big business. But they depend on fossil fuel-based materials, and recycling them is particularly tricky. By Alexandra Sherlock and Rebecca Van Amber

Food & Agriculture

Decarbonising our food

Averting catastrophic climate scenarios requires that we phase out fossil fuels and transform food systems at the same time. A growing body of scientific research shows that the two challenges are not just equally urgent, but also mutually dependent. By Anna Lappé and Patty Fong

Vietnam has ambitious targets to tackle the challenge posed by plastic waste. Effective enforcement and implementation are key for success. By Nguyen Khac Giang

Greenpeace and other environmental groups are demanding that governments ban single-use plastic sachets by 2030.

In Indonesia and in other Southeast Asian nations, multilayer sachets are at the core of the plastic crisis. If companies such as Unilever and Procter & Gambles are serious about being part of the solution to the plastics crisis that they has helped create, they must commit to banning sachets – a desired outcome of the The Global Plastics Treaty. By Ibar Akbar

By Joshua Tan

By Annerieke Douma

By Dharmesh Shah

By Jessica Cheam

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EB Studio Singapore gets through 2 million plastic bags a day. Why do Singaporeans use so many bags, and what will it take to reduce consumption?

Katherine Desbaillets, co-owner of SaladStop!

As Singapore-based salad bar chain SaladStop! marks its 10th anniversary, co-owner Katherine Desbaillets talks to Eco-Business about phasing out meat, food waste and single-use packaging, and dealing with customers who refuse to pay 10 cents for a plastic bag.

The Philippine government has begun the process of relocating more than 200,000 families living along waterways to restore Manila Bay, the main body of water in the capital.

Plastic bag floats near bait ball. Image: WWF

A campaign by the WWF Singapore has revealed that the average person consumes approximately 5g of plastic every week. The NGO is calling on governments and businesses around the world to forge a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution.

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EB Studio As a landmark treaty is thrashed out to tackle plastic pollution, the Eco-Business Podcast debates whether the world is ready to pay a premium for packaging that doesn't damage the planet.

Recycling keeps some plastic out of waterways, but it is no silver bullet for ocean pollution. Ryan Schoenike of OceanCycle tells Eco-Business how recycled plastic certification works, and how his firm is faring in a sector rocked by Covid.

2020 was a bad year plastic recycling and ocean pollution. Eco-Business asked Circulate Capital CEO Rob Kaplan how the circular economy can be rebuilt in Asia this year.

EB Studio Recycling efforts in the Philippines are shrinking amid the pandemic, even as the plastic waste challenge mounts. Is the country on the verge of a more devastating plastic waste crisis?

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