Plastic has become part of everyday life in Cambodia. From takeaway food and drinks to shopping and household goods, plastic is often the easiest and most affordable option available. But behind its widespread use are practical reasons that are not always visible when we talk about plastic pollution.

For street food vendors, packaging needs to be affordable, lightweight, durable and convenient to transport. A plastic container can also make food more attractive to customers because they can see what they are buying.

One street food vendor explains why plastic remains the practical choice for his business:

“I pack food in the plastic box as it is transparent, so it is easy to see the food and it also looks tasty.”

She also points to another advantage: durability. “It is a hard box, so it is convenient to transport. Paper box is easy to damage and it is also more expensive.”

For small businesses operating with limited capital, these differences matter. The vendor says that selling by the roadside requires less expense, while plastic packaging allows her to transport and serve food easily. At the same time, she recognizes the environmental cost of this convenience.

“Packaging like this creates a lot of waste but what can I do? I make a living doing this.”

Her words capture an important part of Cambodia’s plastic challenge: reducing plastic use is not simply about asking people to stop using it. Alternatives also need to be affordable, practical and accessible to the people and businesses that depend on packaging every day.

Cambodia’s waste management systems are grappling with rising volumes of plastic. In 2022 alone, the country generated 546 kilotonnes (kt) of plastic waste across five key categories, averaging at 33 kilograms (kg) per capita. Yet only 5% of Cambodia’s plastic waste is properly managed, with less than 2% recycled. The remaining plastic ends up in dumpsites, being openly burned or leaking into the environment. Without urgent intervention, this crisis will continue to escalate, seriously threatening Cambodia’s ecosystems and public health.

Transforming Cambodia’s plastic system requires bold, coordinated action across the value chain. To drive this progress, in 2023, Cambodia launched NPAP Cambodia in collaboration with the World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP). Led by the Ministry of Environment, NPAP Cambodia is a cross sector, evidence-based initiative dedicated to developing a national action roadmap to reduce plastic pollution, mitigate its economic and social impacts, and accelerate Cambodia’s transition to a circular plastics economy.