Southeast Asia Creates 20% of the World’s Waste – Start-Ups are Creating Solutions

Southeast Asia Creates Inordinate Amounts of Waste

The problem of waste in Southeast Asia is, if anything, likely to get worse. Southeast Asia could generate more than 300 million tonnes of refuse annually by 2030, according to IPEN. Much of this increase can be attributed to urbanisation, economic growth and a rising population.

Moreover, the World Economic Forum (WEF) reported that more than half of all the waste globally that flows into the ocean comes from Southeast Asia. Plastic pollution is a critical challenge for the future of the ASEAN region, the WEF observed, with over 31 million tonnes of plastic waste generated annually.

There is also an inadequate ecosystem for waste disposal, collection, treatment, and recycling among Southeast Asian countries, according to UOB Bank, where 90 percent of rubbish is dumped or burned. The costs of poor waste management are high, the ASEAN Energy Database System (AEDS) observed. Landfills use lots of space and pollutants can leach into the soil and surface water, harming the environment and people’s health. Gas from decomposing organic materials in landfills forms about 11 percent of global methane emissions. About 90 percent of the world’s plastic waste is not disposed of properly, not even making it into landfill, which is one reason plastic is the largest single contributor to ocean pollution.

Regulatory Actions Can Help Reduce Waste

A key problem across Southeast Asia is that landfill sites are overflowing. In Indonesia, for example, Universitas Gadjah Mada said national landfills are currently exceeding capacity. Most waste management efforts are limited to collection, transportation and disposal, with only a few community efforts to sort waste at the household level. AEDS said Southeast Asia’s urban population is projected to rise to nearly 400 million by 2030, requiring significant investment in waste management.

Governments in Southeast Asia are looking more closely at the issue and beginning to develop regulations or create other solutions.

Policymakers are considering waste-to energy, AEDS said, and they are looking at successful programmes in China as models. Consultancy firm Ramboll said governments in the region recognise the need for this infrastructure, as increased populations mean greater demand for energy. Southeast Asia’s electricity demand is set to rise 4 percent annually to 2035.

While several Southeast Asian countries have policies to encourage and support the development of waste-to-energy plants, implementation of these projects faces challenges ranging from regulation to technology to funding, as well as the need for coordination between governments, businesses and local communities.

Ramboll manager Raymond Lee sees Malaysia and Thailand as moving the fastest on waste-to-energy projects. “In Thailand, for example, almost 50 percent of the total waste generated is disposed of in landfill. The Thai government is therefore offering a range of subsidies and tax incentives to help get these projects developed.”

Indonesia is also trying to develop waste-to-energy facilities. Nearly 60% of waste in Indonesia is not properly managed, Reccessary said. The government plans to build waste-to-energy (WTE) plants in 30 cities to manage and reduce waste while providing renewable energy. Currently, untreated waste is sent directly to incinerators or landfills in 538 regions or cities. While the government issued a mandate to reduce waste by 30 percent through recycling in 2017, with 70 percent to be sorted and processed into raw materials or energy, these targets have not yet been met.

Another set of solutions is specific to plastic. Across Southeast Asia, Bain said, countries are starting to promote reduction of plastic usage and to encourage higher recycling rates and use of recycled plastic content. Extended producer responsibility, whereby producers are given a significant responsibility for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products, has been introduced in countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Start-ups have Innovations Solutions

Across Southeast Asia, a multitude of start-ups and other relatively new companies are developing solutions to reduce waste or turn it into useful products.

Humble Sustainability in the Philippines, for example created a B2B trading platform in 2022 to enable companies to recycle and refurbish their used IT equipment. Humble says it saves laptops, monitors, desktops and phones from landfill, creating space and maximising revenue. It also provides climate data for clients’ ESG initiatives. Humble recently raised funds to expand beyond the Philippines and to add a Climate Dashboard platform.

In Malaysia, E27 said Klean offers a Malaysian-made smart reverse vending machine with a Klean operating system and an app that rewards people for recycling empty PET bottles, food containers and aluminium cans. Klean places its machines at high footfall locations such as shopping centres, office blocks, convention centres and universities.

Green Lagoon Technologies in Malaysia converts waste from palm oil milling into biogas for multiples uses, such as domestic consumption and electricity. Since sales started in 2020, it has completed more than 60 projects.

Blue Planet in Singapore provides sustainable waste management solutions across the entire waste management value chain, enabling organizations to transition to a circular economy. Founded in 2017, their services encompass waste streams including food, livestock, agricultural, plastic and industrial waste. The company focuses on waste-to-energy solutions, landfill remediation, and resource recovery, aiming to minimise waste sent to landfills and reduce carbon emissions, Tracxn observed.

Grac, a technology in Vietnam startup founded in 2021, provides solutions for digital transformation in waste management and has built a circular economy platform. Although it says it does not own the best technology, Grac also says it has designed the most suitable waste management model in Vietnam, and it supports the transformation of plastic, recyclable and other waste. Its digital platform connects and enables transactions between waste generators including companies, consumers, waste aggregators and recyclers.

And demonstrating the scale of potential future solutions, more than 100 companies in Vietnam applied to join the Towards Zero Waste Accelerator, with solutions ranging from waste reduction to sustainable supply chains and addressing sectors including plastics, textiles, organics, and electronics.

While much more needs to be done, the combination of government support and start-up innovation is beginning to mitigate the problem of waste.