Will Asia confront production or compromise the future?

The world is negotiating a plastics treaty, but behind the talk of pollution and cleanup lies a deeper battle over production cuts.

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At stake is whether governments will confront the fossil-fueled expansion of plastic, or let the treaty become a glorified waste management plan. Nowhere is this tension more visible than in Asia, where countries are caught between rising petrochemical ambitions and the mounting toll of plastic pollution.

This regional surge in plastic production is unfolding alongside mounting public concern over waste imports, environmental degradation, and global calls for binding production limits.

China alone accounts for 32 percent of global plastic production, with a polymer capacity exceeding 130 million tonnes (MT) per year. The country is expected to account for almost 29 percent of the 40 percent of the global petrochemical capacity addition projected by 2030. India, meanwhile, produced 13.7 MT of polymers in FY2022-23 and imported 3.9 MT while preparing to double its petrochemical capacity by 2030 under an aggressive industrial policy.

Thailand, with a capacity of ~11 MT per year, exported $7.2 billion worth of plastics in 2022 and plans to enforce a ban on plastic waste imports starting this year, having imported over 1.1 MT of waste between 2018 and 2021. South Korean manufacturers, with a production base of ~20 MT/year, have seen their revenues shrink as self-sufficiency rose in their key market, China.