Locations
Plastic pollution and tourism: A review of six countries
Tourism's plastic problem
Tourism is one of Southeast Asia's most important industries, and one that depends on clean beaches, healthy reefs and attractive destinations. It is also growing faster than the waste systems that serve it.
In Da Nang, Viet Nam, an overnight visitor throws away twice as much as a resident. Across the region, most of the plastic tourists use on a trip – bottled water, packaged food, wrapped amenities – is used only once. Then it is discarded in the places least able to deal with it: islands, coastal towns and remote sites, where what escapes ends up in the landscapes and waters visitors came to see.
This series of six assessments is the first to measure plastic in the tourism sector country by country, across Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. Each sets out how much plastic the sector uses, where it ends up, what policy and infrastructure is in place, and how use can be reduced. They were produced under the Japan-funded Global Plastics Innovation Programme (GPIP).
What needs to change
The six reports explore different countries with very different tourism economies. Yet four priorities come up in all of them.
Make the rules apply to the tourism sector. Every country has national plastics legislation, and in every country it stops short of the tourism sector. The assessments suggest several ways to close the gap: a dedicated plastics strategy for tourism; clear guidelines so businesses know what is expected of them; requirements built into licensing, accommodation standards and concession contracts; and local rules that match national definitions and penalties, so they can actually be enforced.
Set the default on what operators buy and what guests are offered. The most effective measures change the default instead of asking visitors to refuse what they are given. For operators, that means buying differently – in bulk, reusable rather than disposable, with suppliers taking packaging back – and writing those terms into contracts. For guests, it means refill stations at attractions and transport hubs, amenities on request rather than in the room, drinks and meals served in reusables, and straws or takeaway cutlery only if asked for.
Help small businesses afford the switch. Alternatives can cost small operators up to three times more than single-use plastic, and this is a key reason many have not changed their practices. The assessments set out a range of ways to close the gap: green loans and grants to help buy equipment; tax relief, where possible tied to green certification; producer responsibility fees that reflect where products are sold; tourist fees reinvested in waste services; and recognition schemes that make the switch worth making. Some hotel operators report that the investment pays for itself over time, through lower spending on packaging and waste.
Measure the plastic footprint of tourism. Most countries do not separate the tourism sector's plastic footprint from everything else. Without specific data, it is hard to tell whether a measure to reduce plastic use in the sector has worked. The assessments set out how to change that: start with simple waste logbooks that businesses keep themselves; agree one unit, such as plastic per guest-night or per visitor, so destinations can be compared; bring the figures together nationally, broken down by source and type; and track what the pollution costs, in beach cleaning, complaints and reputation, alongside the waste itself.
Explore the assessments
Each one sets out what is happening in a single country, and what would change it.
