Moderator

Rico Hizon, Senior Anchor and Director for Content Development, CNN Philippines

Consumer awareness of plastic waste in the ocean and landfills is an important factor in driving change. However, despite this encouraging trend, a survey released by UNEP and FIA in 2020 revealed a significant disconnect between expectation and action on reducing plastic waste. In addition, unprecedented change in consumption habits during the COVID-19 pandemic could have undermined efforts to combat plastic pollution.

This session aims to identify effective strategies for transforming consumer behaviour, including industry initiatives to shape and address consumer demand, as well as advocacy initiatives that catalyse consumer awareness and action for more eco- friendly behaviour and lifestyles beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

This session aims to:

• Discuss the latest trends and challenges in promoting an eco-friendly and zero plastic lifestyle among consumers;
• Share effective approaches in transforming consumption patterns, consequently reducing plastic use in different consumer industries (e.g. textiles, e-commerce, retail, travel and tourism); and
• Identify the benefits of shifting away from a throw-away culture for business, communities and young consumers through proven tools and strategies.

Moderator

Ruba Nackeeran, Partnerships Manager for Southeast Asia and Country Head of Malaysia, Eco-Business

Plastic packaging generates the most plastic waste of any sector, posing a significant threat to ecosystems. Due to poor product design, recycling remains challenging and costly. On the other hand, competition with virgin plastic raw materials pose a serious challenge to the use of recycled raw materials, making single use plastics and packaging waste, particularly those of low value, the main contributors to plastic leakage that end up as land-based and marine plastic pollution.

In recent years, new innovations in design, collection schemes and products from recovered waste along the plastic value chain have given us hope for less plastic wasted. This session aims to discuss strategies to overcome barriers to achieving a greater level of recycling and to support scale up of the promising innovations across the value chain, technical as well as business models that can enable less plastic wasted.

This session aims to:

• Highlight the efforts and success of innovations in the plastic value chain, and also the potential to scale-up through business models and collaborations that can lead to less plastic wasted;
• Identify gaps in the waste management and plastic value chain that can hinder realization of innovations, and how actors in the value chain can close these gaps; and
• Discuss how businesses can accelerate improvements, innovations and plans in the pipeline to lower their plastic footprint.

Moderator

Voltaire Acosta, Project Manager, Healthy Oceans and Clean Seas Initiative, UN-Habitat

Cities play a critical role in addressing waste management and eliminating plastic waste leakage from the system. Successful pilot initiatives have been carried out at city levels, promoting a circular approach, applying innovative tools to identify waste leakage, engaging citizens and businesses in change, and creating inclusive policies and regulations.

Under the SEA circular project, good practices for integrated plastic waste management, community engagement and outreach are demonstrated in two pilot sites in Petaling Jaya and Penang, Malaysia. In partnership with UN-Habitat, data is collected on waste leakage and flows in cities in South-East Asia to inform evidence-based interventions at local level, including in Chonburi (Thailand), Seremban (Malaysia), Hoi An and Tam Ky (Viet Nam), and Kep and Sihanoukville (Cambodia).

This session aims to:

• Feature successful city-level initiatives to identify and prevent plastic pollution by converting waste into resources and creating benefits for communities;
• Identify challenges and success factors for implementation and replication; and
• Explore new opportunities to share lessons learned, leverage resources and create partnerships for local action.

The session will focus on two main areas for city-level action on plastic pollution:

• Data and baselines
• Legislation and enforcement

Moderator

Rico Hizon, Senior Anchor and Director for Content Development, CNN Philippines

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is at an early voluntary phase in this region. Collection and recycling levels are extremely low while leakage that cause plastic pollution remain unacceptably high, particularly for low value post-consumer packaging materials. Companies and sectors engaged in the Plastic Value Chain are beginning to address the problem through producer responsibility organizations (PROs). These organizations can act as a conduit to connect the actors in the value chain, close waste management infrastructure gaps, connect businesses to the informal sector and enable collection of waste for recycling. However, we need to see great acceleration and a shift from voluntary to mandatory EPR to be able to see a difference.

This session aims to identify effective strategies for implementing extended producer responsibility and enabling producer responsibility organizations to scale up, to bring more actors in the plastic value chain on-board in ending plastic leakage into the environment.

This session aims to:

• Highlight the efforts, successes and challenges faced by PROs in getting off the ground and scaling up their collection and management of plastic waste;
• Identify gaps in waste collection and management, policy and consumer behaviour, and based on the experience this far, what could be enablers for scaling up their operations;
• Discuss how businesses, PROs, regulators can energize the efforts, and through EPR plug plastic leakage into the environment.

Moderator

Elisa Tonda, Head of Consumption and Production Unit, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

A circular economy aims to accelerate our efforts to address plastic pollution, by ensuring that plastic products remain in the economy at their highest economic value for as long as possible and do not pollute our oceans, rivers and land. Businesses have a crucial role to play in building circularity in our economy and society. Over the past years, many businesses have stepped up their commitments and have recognized the potential of circular business models.

This session will showcase innovative business models for plastic circularity and will discuss what actions need to be bolstered at regional and global levels to incentivize a shift away from business as usual to a circular economy.  

This session aims to:

• Demonstrate circular business models that prevent plastic pollution and integrate profit, people and planet; 
• Showcase innovative and sustainable ventures for circularity from different industries; and 
• Highlight what shifts are necessary in policies, standards, and regulations to enable business transformation.

Moderator

Gita Sabharwal, UN Resident Coordinator, Thailand

Mobilizing investments is key in transforming markets and societies towards a waste-free future by boosting the economic value of waste materials and de-risking investment in circular innovation. Innovative financing calls for a combination of public and private mechanisms, from large-scale grants and loans by multilateral development banks, private sector incubators for innovative business models, plastic credit schemes to catalyse change, to microfinancing for community-based action. Plastic accounting for neutrality and credit schemes are evolving and taking shape very quickly, getting this right for all relevant stakeholders, achieving a harmonized approach will further support efforts to achieve circularity.

This session will discuss financing opportunities and gaps for preventing and reducing plastic pollution at different levels, from start-ups and small and medium enterprises, to city-level and national action. Speakers will present innovative financing mechanisms on the horizon for effective public and private funding models for change and discuss gaps in governance frameworks to catalyse financing.

This session aims to:

• Understand the risks and barriers in financing marine litter and plastic pollution reduction;
• Identify inclusive financial instruments at different levels and emerging financing mechanisms such as plastic credits, their potential and trade-offs; and
• Discuss pressing governance issues to facilitate concerted efforts for sustainable financing.

Moderator

Jessica Cheam, Founder and Managing Director, Eco-Business

Reducing global plastic pollution is one of the greatest challenges facing the planet. Fortunately, solutions exist; however, actions must be accelerated. SEA of Solutions 2021 sessions provide diverse experiences and recommendations  from innovation, financing, circularity, behavior choices , research to policies and incentives.

Governments, consumers, investors, businesses and millions of people are stepping up. Together, we can fight the currently over 13 million tonnes of plastic that ends up in our oceans and waterways each year, which negative impact on our natural ecosystems, economies, livelihoods and health.