New Delhi (NVI): A new World Wide Fund (WWF) report on Asia’s worst ocean polluters has found Malaysians to be the biggest individual consumers of plastic packaging. Following the analysis, the NGO has urged the Malaysian government to limit single-use plastics and work with companies to fund a recycling push.

The WWF report has analysed the data of plastic packaging placed on the market in six growing Asian economies — China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The report was commissioned by German consultancy GVM, which specialises in the packaging market.

The increasing use of plastics and limited recycling has led to an exponential rise in the quantum of plastic waste, the report finds.

Globally, over 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced since the early 1950s and about 60% of that has ended up in landfills or in the natural environment, it says.

When it comes to India, India it generates 9.46 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, of which 40% remains uncollected; 43% is used for packaging, most of it single-use, according to another report by Un-Plastic Collective (UPC), a joint initiative by the United Nations Environment Programme, CII and WWF India.

To put a complete stop to single-use plastic by 2022, the Narendra Modi Government has also recently launched an ambitious plan. 60 more countries have made commitments to address this issue.

Going back to the WWF report, it finds 93% of the waste of low-income countries is dumped in the environment, compared to 4% in high-income countries. Single-use plastics and packaging for consumer goods, particularly, increase plastic pollution. Globally, 36% of plastic usage is for packaging and over a third of it lands up into the environment, according to the report.

Of the six countries analysed in the report, Malaysia’s per capita plastic packaging consumption was found to be the highest, at 16.78 kg. It is followed by Thailand (15.52), China (14.08), Vietnam (12.93), Indonesia (12.5) and the Philippines (12.4).

In the other countries surveyed in the report, household usage of plastic films and bags and PET bottles is the highest. Overall, the total annual household plastic packaging consumption in these countries is at 27 million tonnes.

The report evaluates that China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam contribute 60% of the estimated 8 million tonnes of plastic that enter the world’s oceans each year.

The volume of plastic waste going into the ocean is set to quadruple between 2010 and 2050 globally, the report says, while indicating that the sea could contain more plastic by weight than fish by mid-century!