Across South and Southeast Asia, countries are taking steps to transition from linear “take-make-waste” models to more circular economies. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), only 12% of plastic waste in these regions is effectively recycled. As a result, Southeast Asia has become a major hotspot for plastic pollution, largely due to insufficient recycling infrastructure to properly manage the growing volume of waste which includes significant imports from wealthier nations.
These challenges expose major gaps in existing recycling systems and underscore the urgent need for packaging design – which accounts for approximately 47% of global plastic waste – to better align with real-world collection and recovery capabilities.
HOW BUSINESSES ARE ADVANCING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
With the packaging industry bearing a particular responsibility to address these systemic issues, businesses within the sector are increasingly prioritising circular economy principles to recover materials and reduce waste.
To achieve a truly circular economy, businesses must embed circularity from the very outset of production. By integrating sustainability at the design stage, every element of a product – from material selection to adhesives and finishing processes – can be aligned with effective collection, sorting and recycling pathways. This ensures the product is designed with end-of-life recovery in mind from the very start.
Mono-material packaging is a highly effective approach to simplifying recycling and making the process as straightforward as possible for consumers. In contrast, complex multimaterial packaging formats can create confusion and inconvenience at endof-life, as different components often need to be separated and disposed of through multiple waste streams.
By reducing this complexity, mono-material designs help ensure packaging can move more efficiently through recycling systems. When a product is either fully recyclable or not recyclable, it helps eliminate consumer uncertainty and reduces the risk of “wish-cycling”, where items are placed in recycling bins in the hope they are recyclable. This practice can contaminate recycling streams and ultimately lead to material downcycling or even the rejection of entire loads. Businesses can also meet sustainability targets by evaluating materials through a broader lens than recyclability alone. While paper is often considered a more sustainable option due to its renewable origins and relatively straightforward recycling process, it is essential to assess its full environmental footprint across the entire lifecycle – from production and use through to end-of-life disposal.
The reality is that simply substituting plastic with paper does not necessarily reduce environmental harm, particularly when large volumes of paper waste are exported to regions with limited recycling infrastructure.
For instance, in 2023, the UK exported about 3.4-million tonnes of paper waste – with India, Malaysia, and Vietnam receiving over 70% of these exports. To adopt a more flexible and informed approach to sustainability, businesses should critically examine material choices by asking key questions such as: where does this material come from, and where does it ultimately go? This kind of lifecycle thinking enables more robust decisionmaking and better supports the transition to a circular economy. As consumers across the region become increasingly eco-conscious, these considerations are both environmental imperatives and commercially strategic decisions. A 2024 survey on sustainable consumption behaviours in Hong Kong found that 70% of consumers prefer sustainable products, while 78% have previously paid more for sustainable options. In addition, more than half of respondents believe their favourite brands should do more to expand access to sustainable choices.
By designing for circularity from the outset, companies not only address environmental challenges at their source, but also help meet evolving consumer expectations.
A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO CIRCULARITY
Despite the challenges facing South and Southeast Asia, meaningful progress is underway. In 2021, India became the first country in Asia to launch a Plastics Pact – the India Plastics Pact – a collaborative initiative bringing together businesses and government stakeholders to address plastic waste. Participating organisations commit to eliminating unnecessary and problematic plastics, while advancing reuse models, improving recyclability, and increasing the use of recycled content in packaging and products.
This represents a significant milestone in India’s transition towards circularity and is widely viewed as a potential catalyst for broader regional change. According to the Pact’s 2024-2025 Annual Report, 72% of participating brands’ plastic packaging was recyclable, underscoring tangible progress in improving packaging design and circular outcomes.
Other ways countries are working to support the circular transition are by formalising the contributions of waste collectors. India’s National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE), launched in 2023, was designed to improve the safety and dignity of sanitation workers across the country. In 2024, the scheme was expanded to include solid waste collectors, recognising their essential role in accelerating India’s sustainable waste management objectives and broader shift towards circularity. The initiative aims to strengthen recycling and waste recovery systems while also enhancing livelihoods and safeguarding those working within the sector.
For countries that frequently receive waste exports from wealthier nations, import restrictions can play a key role in strengthening domestic capacity to manage materials more effectively. Several governments have already taken steps in this direction – for example, India banned the import of plastic waste in 2019, and Thailand and Indonesia followed in 2025. Other nations are also heading in the same direction, with Malaysia having tightened conditions for imports in 2025. Such measures help retain materials within regional systems and reduce the tendency for wealthier countries to externalise the burden of waste management onto others, a practice often described as “waste colonialism.” They also encourage exporting nations to rethink their dependence on non-recyclable materials as overseas disposal routes become less available.
Ultimately, both businesses and governments can tap into a wide range of tools to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. This includes embedding circularity into product and packaging design from the earliest stages of development, as well as government and local authority investment in robust waste collection and recycling infrastructure. Taken together, these interventions are essential to advancing the circularity journey across South and Southeast Asia.
Bharat Tex Special Report 2026 
