APIC ’19: Asia petchem industry must address mounting plastic waste issue

TAIPEI (ICIS)–Asia’s petrochemical industry will have to continue to work together to address mounting resentment over plastic waste, industry executives said on Friday.

“We recognize there is an urgent need to strengthen public-private partnerships in working together to discuss, develop and bring to scale solutions which can minimise and manage plastic waste,” Malaysian Petrochemicals Association (MPA) president Akbar Thayoob told delegates at the 2019 Asia Petrochemicals Industry Conference (APIC) in Taipei.

This includes innovation in product design; developing recycling and waste management infrastructure; educating and engaging governments, communities and businesses; and cleaning up plastic waste already in the environment, Thayoob said.

Industry executives at the 2019 Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) in Taipei. (Photo by Nurluqman Suratman)

“The issue of plastic litter in the ocean is now drawing keen attention, and reported by the media almost every day. This is one of the key issues that mankind is facing,” said Kohei Morikawa, chairman of the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association.

“Since we have established a comfortable lifestyle by creating various artificial materials, we need to take the upmost care about the environment and safety,” Morikawa said, urging the industry to prevent plastic waste from leaking into the ocean.

“So long as our goal is the same, I think it will be most effective for each country or region to take its own approach,” he added.

The industry also needs to respond appropriately to public expectations for businesses to be more socially responsible, and one way to reach this goal is to align practices to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nationals (UN) in 2015, said Dong-joon Moon, chairman of the Korea Petrochemical Industry Association (KPIA).

The South Korean petrochemical industry is “aggressively supporting the sustainability activities” of the International Council of Chemical Associations to meet this goals, he added.

The key change providing momentum to sustainable processes in the petrochemical industry is the emergence of electric vehicles and plans for phasing out internal combustion engines, said India’s Chemicals and Petrochemicals Manufacturers’ Association president Kamal Nanavaty.

“Going forward, unprecedented amounts of hydrocarbon feedstocks will be available for use in petrochemicals. As organisations around in the globe and the Asia Pacific focus on oil-to-chemicals technology, it becomes more important than ever to ensure that the technologies of the future are sustainable,” he added.

The plastic waste issue has “accelerated into the global consciousness” and will become the most critical issue that will influence the petrochemicals industry in the 2020s, said Tony Potter, global vice president for specialty chemicals at consultancy IHS Markit.

“Unfortunately, many parties globally have called for bans on plastics products and to switch to the usage of biodegradable products so as to reduce and prevent marine litter, rather than focus on efforts to increase or improve recycling, he added.

Focus article by Nurluqman Suratman

Click here to see regulatory targets and a list of chemical and mechanical recyclers on the ICIS Circular Economy topic page.