Asian Scientific Alliance for Plastic Pollution and Value Network Management

Plastic pollution poses a global environmental challenge, with developing countries in Asia accounting for over 85% of terrestrial plastic inputs into the oceans. However, the drivers of this pollution are global. Various sources contribute to waste generation and pollution, including households, industry, and agriculture. Waste management in developing countries often relies on millions of informal pickers, as well as thousands of small-scale informal plastic waste dealers and recyclers. Recognizing this workforce is integral to identifying workable and inclusive solutions to plastic pollution. The ASAP project centered on two pillars: Pillar 1: Analysis of the conditions, drivers, and mechanisms leading to plastic waste mismanagement, littering, and releases to rivers and the sea in Asia's three largest countries: China, India, and Indonesia. Pillar 2: Creation of an international network of experts and local interest groups, gathering annually in a series of thematic conferences through the establishment of a thematic knowledge hub. In Pillar 1, we collected and analyzed data on plastic handling and the socioeconomic drivers and conditions of workers in informal plastic recycling. This research resulted in several outputs, including an international report endorsed by UN-Habitat and the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, titled: "Leaving No One Behind: How a global instrument to end plastic pollution can enable a just transition for the people informally collecting and recovering waste." This report serves as a reference for recognizing the informal recycling sector in the UN negotiations for the global plastics treaty. ASAP's work also led to two international webinars, a policy brief, a working paper published through the International Knowledge Hub Against Plastic Pollution (IKHAPP) — a platform created as part of this project — and a scientific paper on the interlinkages between chemical pollutants and plastics in the informal sector of India. We also collected and disseminated data on informal plastic recycling from two case studies in India (in the cities of Surat and Vapi) and one in China (a suburban district of Shanghai), engaging directly with the workers in these sectors. Pillar 2 resulted in establishing IKHAPP as an internationally recognized authoritative source of scientific knowledge syntheses, linking science to policymakers and the broader society. Through its IT platform (ikhapp.org), IKHAPP serves as a knowledge hub operated by an independent research community, collecting, reviewing, organizing, and presenting the most relevant, original, and impactful scientific works, analyses, and discussions useful for prioritizing workable solutions to the plastic problem, with a special focus on developing countries in Asia. Through this platform, researchers working on ASAP projects have published over 30 knowledge syntheses, produced 11 webinars involving hundreds of international experts, and attracted thousands of scientists, experts, and policymakers. Additionally, ASAP researchers have provided the international expert community with access to assessment tools, such as user-interface models of plastic pollution environmental transport, and a digital library with hundreds of selected relevant scientific publications. In nearly three years of activity, IKHAPP reached a global audience of nearly 400,000 visitors, averaging 2,000 visits per day from nearly all countries. Two regional IKHAPP virtual offices were created (in India and Indonesia). IKHAPP was selected by the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ) as a knowledge platform to support international cooperation work nested in the ASEAN Regional Action Plan for Combating Marine Debris. Here, ASAP researchers have provided local stakeholders with a series of knowledge products, including syntheses of international policies on combating plastic pollution and baseline reports on microplastics sources and pollution management options. IKHAPP has also attracted the attention of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, which granted funds to establish a library of scientific, policy, and technical documents on the use and management of plastics in agriculture. As part of this agreement, the ASAP team will produce three FAO reports in support of the preparation of the International Voluntary Code of Conduct on plastic use in agriculture. Finally, IKHAPP contributed to the creation of and serves as the secretariat for the Scientists Coalition for an Effective Plastic Treaty, an organization of over 300 independent scientists worldwide contributing to negotiations for the UN Legally Binding Instrument to combat plastic pollution, known as the Plastic Treaty.

The part of the project focused on the informal sector’s role in plastic recycling culminated in the production of 3 webinars, two policy briefs and a working paper. Furthermore, in collaboration with UN-Habitat, ASAP developed the report "Leaving No-One Behind: How a Global Instrument to End Plastic Pollution Can Enable a Just Transition for Informal Waste Collectors." This report was used to inform negotiations for a legally binding international agreement on plastic pollution, incorporating feedback from local governments, international agencies, NGOs, industries, and academia through expert meetings. Launched at the UN Headquarters in Nairobi in 2022, and attended by the Crown Prince of Norway and Crown Princess of Sweden, the report has since been acknowledged as a key document for discussions on a just transition for waste pickers and informal workers. It was endorsed by the International Alliance of Waste Pickers at the first Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) meeting and has been cited in numerous journal articles and policy briefs. Concerning objective 2 on sources and transport of plastic and chemical pollutants between land and ocean, we develop 2 academic papers on top thematic journals, and 8 webinars covering aspects such as monitoring and clean-up technologies, plastic waste mismanagement data, and plastic pollution releases and impacts in the agriculture. We also develop and published user-friendly model interfaces for assessing the sources, fate, and transport of plastic pollution, alongside a digital library containing hundreds of records of selected scientific publications, reports and policy documents, covering these topics. Through the IKHAPP knowledge platform we could monitor the effectiveness of the outreach. Researchers from ASAP and associated partners published on IKHAPP over 30 knowledge syntheses, produced 11 webinars featuring hundreds of international experts, and attracted thousands of scientists, experts, and policymakers among our audience. The IKHAPP knowledge platform, created as a core part of the project - Objective 3, serves as a repository for most project outputs. In its first two years, IKHAPP reached nearly 400,000 visitors, averaging 1,000 visits per day from around the world. Two regional virtual offices were established in India and Indonesia. The platform was also selected by the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ) to support international efforts under the ASEAN Regional Action Plan for Combating Marine Debris. FAO has granted NIVA scientist with a contract to develop a digital library collecting documents on the link between plastic pollution and the agrifood sector.

The ASAP project will target key sources and socioeconomic drivers of marine litter in Asia's three largest countries: China, India and Indonesia. The project will deliver quantitative assessments of plastic litter releases from source hotspots in the three countries, asses critical interlinkages between plastics waste and chemical pollution and improve the understanding of the socioeconomic determinants of plastic waste mismanagement. The project will also host a knowledge hub and a network secretariat for research and stakeholders in the region. Mismanagement of both domestic and imported waste from the developed world is one of the key drivers of plastic pollution. In these countries, plastic sorting, collection and recycling is mainly processed by millions of marginalized informal workers in poorly understood plastic waste value networks (PWVN). This workforce plays an extremely important role in the society and for the environment through capturing value from waste and reducing environmental releases. With lacking or inadequate formal management in place, broken or dysfunctional informal value chains are the main causes of pollution. Plastic litter also conveys hazardous chemicals both from additives and chemicals used in recycling. If released during litter ageing, they will pose a risk to marine biota and humans. The chemical pollution of plastic is a major impediment for a well-functioning and sustainable recycling sector, and a major hinderance towards circular economy avoiding polluted plastic in new products. The project will elucidate the functioning and sustainability of informal PWVNs, its interconnectedness to chemical pollution and quantitatively assess plastic releases to rivers and the sea. ASAP will both generate empirical data from original surveys and leverage on existing regional projects and initiatives. The project will provide science-based support to local Asian governments in their efforts to address plastic pollution.