Southeast Asia, or the ASEAN, is not an outlier in the global circular economy movement. Indeed, the circular economy, along with security and trade cooperation, is usually at the forefront of issues at regional meetings. But making the circular economy agenda successful is a different story. The region, which is a large consumer and producer of petroleum-based plastics, has to meet its recycling goals, simply because the growing volume of municipal solid waste (MSW), primarily from households, commercial and industrial sources, and other human activities, is becoming too much to handle. Of the ten countries in the ASEAN bloc, Indonesia is estimated to generate the highest quantity of MSW with 64 million tonnes/year, followed by Thailand at 26 million tonnes and Vietnam at 22 million tonnes. The Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar and Laos generated between nearly 8-15 million tonnes/year, according to data published in the Waste Management in ASEAN countries report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2017. As it stands, sanitary landfills and open dumps are the most common forms of waste management. Recycling rates in the region are falling short of targets, owing to inefficient disposal methods and the lack of recycling infrastructure and technologies. It’s not surprising that viable materials from recycled plastics aren't recovered. An initiative, the ASEAN Regional Action Plan (RAP), launched in May as a response to mismanaged plastic wastes and marine debris, calls for more drastic measures to improve collection, reduce plastic inputs into the system, prevent leakage of plastic scraps into the environment, and create value for waste reuse. The action plan proposes for guidelines to phase out single-use plastics (SUPs), harmonize regional policies on recycling and plastics packaging standards, and improve regional marine debris monitoring. https://m-hub.com/article/a36a9dce-2a99-45b1-9c7a-24fa5d481244