Eco-Business

used laptops in a warehouse in Singapore

EB Studio Recycling e-waste can ease the demand for extracting new minerals, but pollution and unsafe recovery practices pose risks to Southeast Asia’s informal recyclers. The greener solution, says CH Toh of Arkiva, is to repair and reuse our devices.

As Taiwan accelerates in circular industries, the test for Southeast Asia is whether the region can align with the island’s new circular economy roadmap fast enough to unlock advantages in cross-border trade.

Coca-Cola stacked on shelves in NTUC Fairprice in Singapore

Companies with stronger plastic waste management strategies showed steadier revenues and cash flow, a report by Planet Tracker finds. Litigation costs across the plastics sector could exceed US$20 billion by 2030.

A landfill in Bekasi, near Jakarta, Indonesia

Indonesia's 33 planned waste-to-energy plants could generate 20 megawatts of "green electricity" in Jakarta alone daily, the country's national economic council chairman says. But NGOs worry about pollution from the plants and the displacement of waste pickers.

Thomson Reuters Foundation

By Rhick Lars Albay

By Robin Hicks

By Chen Aijia

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COP30 is an opportunity to boost philanthropic capital to help scale climate finance and solutions in Brazil and beyond. By Renata Piazzon

Restricting primary or virgin plastic production would constrain economic growth and industrialisation, India argued at the recent plastic treaty talks. But its opposition to production caps may turn out to be more damaging than beneficial. By Sherley Hepsiba Dokiburra

Thanks to a surge of innovation in circular economy technologies, ocean preservation is becoming an engine of industrial renewal and geopolitical resilience. But to unlock its full potential, those working in the blue economy need to change the narrative. By Bertrand Piccard

Critical minerals recovered from e-waste through established recycling systems can become a vital domestic source of essential minerals for India. By Vaibhav Chowdhary, Animesh Ghosh and Debraj Bhattacharjee

By Indira Zahra Aridati

By Romain Troublé

By Mia Mottley

By Sunny Lu

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EB Studio Recycling is key to tackling Singapore's waste problem, and everybody — including kids— can do their part for a better future.

Katherine Desbaillets, co-owner of SaladStop!

As Singapore-based salad bar chain SaladStop! marks its 10th anniversary, co-owner Katherine Desbaillets talks to Eco-Business about phasing out meat, food waste and single-use packaging, and dealing with customers who refuse to pay 10 cents for a plastic bag.

Plastic bag floats near bait ball. Image: WWF

A campaign by the WWF Singapore has revealed that the average person consumes approximately 5g of plastic every week. The NGO is calling on governments and businesses around the world to forge a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution.

Welcoming 3,800 people this year, the carbon neutral, zero waste festival has grown six-fold since its first edition in 2015.

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L'Occitane's Asia Pacific director of sustainability Venisa Chu

The Asia Pacific ESG head of the B Corp-certified cosmetics firm says refill stations have been disappointing and getting suppliers on board with decarbonisation is difficult, but her team has not been affected by the ESG backlash.

Trash piled high at the Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi, near Jakarta.

The head of waste management non-profit Ocean Recovery Alliance tells the EB Podcast that recycled content mandates will drive the circular economy better than caps on virgin plastic production. Brands should be pressured more than petrochemical producers to phase out unnecessary plastics, he says.

A beach in Balikpapan, Indonesia's "oil city", is covered in plastic trash.

Speaking from the INC-5.2 talks in Geneva, the Singapore Youth for Climate Action president argues that having no treaty is better than a watered-down pact with no limits on plastic production. But there is no explicit Asean-wide support for such caps now, she observes.

EB Podcast: Climate Tech In Asia - Gogoro Founder Horace Luke

Exclusive In this new podcast series 'Climate Tech in Asia', Eco-Business speaks to Gogoro chairman and CEO Horace Luke about the company's recent listing on the Nasdaq and its quest to electrify Asia's ubiquitous two-wheelers and make battery swapping mainstream.

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