Southeast Asia starts to dump single-use plastics

Mounting pollution problems threaten fishery, tourism and other sectors

20190628 Bali plastic waste

Plastic waste litters a beach in Bali: The Indonesian government will implement a trial ban on plastic bags on the island from July.

JUN SUZUKI and MARIMI KISHIMOTO, Nikkei staff writers

JAKARTA/BANGKOK -- Governments and businesses in Asia's emerging economies are trying to reduce plastic pollution in an effort to burnish their green credentials before the international community, not the least its global investors.

The issue came up at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, where global leaders agreed that marine plastic waste is a serious issue and pledged to take "concrete" steps to tackle the problem. President Joko Widodo of Indonesia -- the only Southeast Asian G-20 member -- had said he wanted to bring up the mounting plastic problem at the meet.

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