Australia is in the midst of the biggest waste recycling and reprocessing infrastructure build out in its history. This follows the Prime Minister’s announcement in 2019 that all waste exports would be banned from Australia, after China’s National Sword policy implementation and associated actions in other Asia Pacific countries. These policies effectively ban plastic and other waste exports from Australia to other countries and especially south-east Asian destinations.
This country situation report looks at the state of the plastics and plastics waste markets, as well as public policy concerning plastic, looking specificallly at the public burdens and costs the result from plastic usea and waste.
This country situation report from Indonesia summarizes the policies and regulations in Indonesia, the petrochemical industry, the plastics industry, and plastics waste imports and exports, concluding with an analysis of the public and environmental burden and the challenges and steps needed to transition to a circular economy.
An international team of experts will investigate the industrial hot spots in Khok Sa-ad sub district, Kalasin province. The area is infamous for Thailand’s largest e-waste dump, where scrap from all over the world was formerly collected. The toxic pollution is even enhanced by local dubious dismantling and recycling sites affecting its wider vicinity, including poor local communities. Environmentalists from Arnika [1], EARTH [2], and the local administrative organisation will collect samples for analysis of toxic chemicals in early February.
Quezon City, Philippines A non-profit organization tracking harmful chemicals in products and wastes has cautioned consumers against buying lucky bracelets that are believed to attract good luck during the Year of the Water Tiger.
The EcoWaste Coalition issued the precautionary warning after analyzing red string and beaded bracelets adorned with a tiger figure that the group purchased from vendors in Binondo and Quiapo, Manila for P50 to P250 each.
EcoWaste Coalition Discovers Excessive Lead Levels in 37 Imported Spray Paints, Urges Government Action to Protect Public Health
Monday, 10 January 2022
Quezon City, Philippines Paint products in aerosol cans containing shocking levels of lead are still offered for sale by offline and online retailers despite the ban on such paints, according to the toxics watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition.
Quezon City, Philippines Mercury in cosmetics remains a serious threat to human health and the environment 14 years after the ASEAN regional bloc decided to ban it in cosmetic product formulations.
The toxics watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition made this observation after analyzing 15 imported skin lightening products that are sold in the country without authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In 2020-2021, The Nexus3 team randomly sampled 120 cans of solvent-based paints and industrial paints sold for home use from stores in 10 cities of Indonesia. The paints represented 66 different brands produced by 47 manufacturers.
The analytical study providing data to this report was undertaken as part of IPEN´s Global Lead Paint Elimination Campaign. It was conducted in Indonesia by Nexus3 Foundation in partnership with IPEN (International Pollutants Elimination Network) and funded by GiveWell, and the Swedish Government.
Six IPEN Participating Organizations (POs) in South and Southeast Asia conducted new analytical studies on solvent-based paints, including industrial paints, that are sold in the local market. The studies show that lead paints are still manufactured and/or sold in countries where lead paint laws exist such as in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Philippines, and Vietnam, and moreso in Indonesia which has yet to adopt a legally binding lead paint law. The results, released during the International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, justify the POs’ continuing campaign to ban the manufacture, import, export, distribution, sale, and use of all lead-containing paints to protect human health and the environment.