A Community Approach to Plastic Pollution in Cambodia

The Asia Foundation is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2024. For seven decades, we have partnered with change-makers from government, civil society, the private sector, and academia to solve some of the greatest challenges facing Asia and the Pacific. To mark this milestone, we are sharing a series of highlights showing the scope and impact of our contributions past and present. We are committed to building on these achievements in the decades ahead.

Polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, is a ubiquitous plastic found everywhere, from polyester shirts to plastic bottles. It is also a poster child for runaway plastic pollution in much of Southeast Asia, where single-use PET bottles can be found choking beaches and waterways, endangering wildlife, and degrading public spaces.

But PET can be recycled.

In Cambodia, an Asia Foundation initiative to spotlight plastic pollution and streamline PET recycling removed 78 tons of plastic waste from two cities and laid the groundwork for lasting change in how the country manages its recyclable waste.

Cambodia’s plastic problem has several dimensions, and current recycling practices are inefficient. Incentives for collecting and recycling plastic are inadequate, and waste pickers, junk collectors, and users of PET bottles have not been informed about important aspects of the recycling process.

This lack of effective recycling perpetuates reliance on single-use plastics. The resulting plague of discarded PET bottles clogging rural creeks and urban alleyways significantly challenges efforts to build a sustainable, circular economy.

Against this backdrop, the Foundation seized an opportunity to engage stakeholders and community groups to raise awareness across the recycling supply chain and streamline recycling processes to create a more environmentally sustainable Cambodia. 

A key aspect of the program was training for PET bottle collectors and recyclers. The training included sessions for waste pickers, junk dealers, and teachers to help them improve the sorting, cleaning, and grading of PET bottles. The program prioritized gender equality by emphasizing the participation of women waste pickers and teachers.

These hands-on training initiatives have equipped 80 waste pickers (including 53 women) and 31 junkshop workers with new skills and best practices for sorting, cleaning, and grading recyclable PET bottles. This has both improved the efficiency of PET recycling and provided better economic opportunities for the people doing the hands-on work of collection and recycling, contributing to immediate, tangible improvements in the communities’ waste management.

The program also organized study tours to a leading PET bottle recycling factory in Phnom Penh, providing participants from waste pickers to local officials with firsthand exposure to the practices and requirements of modern recycling and fostering a collaborative spirit among stakeholders at all levels of the recycling supply chain. The Foundation also organized various awareness-raising activities, such as clean-up events, school activities, and community training sessions, reaching a broad cross-section of society.

These activities have also had a noticeable impact on public awareness and behavior, with a culture of responsible waste disposal leading to a visible reduction in PET bottle litter and improved environmental health in Battambang Municipality and Phnom Penh.