MAPPING ASIA’S PLASTIC CRISIS

TRAILER
INTRODUCING MAPPING ASIA’S PLASTIC CRISIS

14 APRIL 2021

The plastic waste crisis in Asia is real…and it doesn’t seem to be getting better…. It’s clear that we need a new approach to reducing disposable plastic waste and its impact on the communities of Asia. This new 5-episode season is based on The Asia Plastic Atlas from the Heinrich Boell Foundation with support from Break Free From Plastic Asia Pacific.

EPISODE 1
ONCE UPON A PLASTIC COVERED BEACH

21 APRIL 2021

We start with Melati Wijsen’s story….a young Indonesian civic advocate who went on a hunger strike in an effort to ban plastic bags on Bali. With waste collection rates hovering around 44%, are Asian countries really to blame for the pollution crisis brought by disposable plastic packaging?

EPISODE 2
SHOULDN’T THEY KNOW BETTER?

29 APRIL 2021

We first travel to a waste bank on the island of Lembeh, Indonesia to see how recycling works (or doesn’t work) in small villages. Then we take a look at PET plastic recycling in Asian urban centres…it’s feasible…but if local governments here shoulder the burden of collecting and sorting the plastic waste…is that really making the polluters pay?

EPISODE 3
COMMUNITY TRASH TALK

6 MAY 2021

Sparked by the zero waste movement, Asian countries are focusing on reducing..rather than recycling… plastic waste. We start our story on the wealthy island nation of Japan…where the rural village of Kamikatsu…can no longer afford the cost of incinerating disposable plastic and other types of waste. But the question remains, can poorer southeast asia neighbours also apply these zero waste principles to solve their plastic waste dilemma?

EPISODE 4
LESSONS FROM A PANDEMIC

13 MAY 2021

In this episode… we’ll traverse from Hong Kong to South Korea and onto Pune, India. We start with Hong Kong, where Sustainable Asia is based, where no new legislation on plastic waste has been introduced for over a decade. Then we peak through the curtain of the COVID pandemic to see how differently South Korea reacted to their surge in plastic waste. And finally we turn to Pune, India where underappreciated workers form the backbone of their unregulated recycling systems.

EPISODE 5
THE PLASTIC CARBON FOOTPRINT
20 MAY 2021

This season wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t discuss climate change. We weave together the experts we heard throughout this season… to uncover the links between disposable plastic waste and climate change. We start with a story about a zero waste village created from the devastation of Super Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines…and throughout the episode answer the question: What is disposable plastic’s carbon footprint?