Published by the Global Plastics Policy Centre at the University of Portsmouth in partnership with Enviu and Dietplastik Indonesia, Designing Effective Reuse Policy: Regional Recommendations for Southeast Asia provides a comparative policy assessment across Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
The report demonstrates that while refill and return practices are deeply anchored in regional cultural heritage, such as the Filipino tingi culture, Indonesian rantang stacked containers, and Thai pinto lunch boxes, their scalability is hindered by fragmented local bans, narrow regulatory definitions, and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) frameworks that disproportionately favour recycling over upstream waste prevention. To overcome these structural barriers, the study outlines six actionable policy pillars, ranging from EPR eco-modulation and dedicated transition financing to inclusive governance for informal waste pickers, offering national governments and ASEAN platforms an evidence-based roadmap to transition from linear disposable packaging to scalable, circular reuse ecosystems.
