In March 2022, at the resumed fifth meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly, UN Member States adopted the historic decision to start negotiating a global treaty to combat plastic pollution. As national delegations and relevant stakeholders in Asia start preparing for the upcoming negotiations, this report by Linda Mederake and Doris Knoblauch (both Ecologic Institute), aims to provide an analysis of the region’s opportunities to end single-use plastics (SUPs) pollution through the development of this new global treaty.

Single-use plastics (SUPs) consumption is booming worldwide, with Asia being no exception. On the contrary: Asia is experiencing increasing levels of SUP consumption due to rapid economic growth, urbanization, and changing consumption and production patterns including the increase of E-commerce and rising sales of processed and packaged food. Last but not least, a "sachet economy" has been established with small portions of products (e.g., instant coffee, shampoo) being sold for convenience and to target especially the large population groups with lower purchasing power.