Why Southeast Asia is ingesting so much microplastic, and what it's doing to your body

CNA

12 hours ago

Microplastics form when larger plastic waste breaks down into near-invisible particles through natural wear and degradation. Today, these microscopic flakes have infiltrated every corner of our environment, from land to sea to the very air we breathe.
And Indonesians may be the most exposed. A Cornell University study last year found that they consumed more microplastics than any other population — 15g per month per person, or the equivalent of swallowing three credit cards.
Malaysians rank second, at 12g per month, while Filipinos and Vietnamese consume 11g of microplastics.
Southeast Asia appears to be the most affected. Six of the top 10 countries leaching plastic pollutants into the ocean are in the region, a 2021 study found.
'Many countries in Southeast Asia have become very dependent on food that's wrapped in plastics,' says Deo Florence L Onda, an associate professor at the Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines Diliman.
'There are instances (where) the bigger plastics may be scratched, thus producing a lot of these microplastics, which then mix into the foods and the drinks that we're (consuming).'
But this problem goes beyond packaging. The programme Insight explores why and how microplastics have encroached into our daily lives, the health risks they pose and what can be done to keep them off our plates.
FROM LANDFILL TO TABLE
Last year, a United States-based study detected microplastics across 16 commonly consumed protein sources, such as pork, beef, chicken and seafood.
In the case of seafood, fish often mistake bacteria-coated microplastics for actual food.
'Usually, (small fish) are fried … so we eat the whole body,' points out Mufti Petala Patria, a lecturer in marine biology at the University of Indonesia.
'This means microplastics in the fish's body, such as in the gills and digestive tract, … will also be consumed.'
Most of these particles originate from ordinary consumer products, including drink bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and plastic bags. PET, for example, breaks down under the sun's ultraviolet rays and is further fragmented by ocean currents and water acidity.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, about 80 per cent of ocean plastic waste originates from land. Among the biggest contributors are single-use, non-recyclable sachets.
In 2020, Greenpeace reported as many as 855 billion sachets being sold worldwide — half in Southeast Asia alone.
'(Many) people in Indonesia prefer to use single-use plastics, firstly because they're cheap. Secondly, because they … can be carried anywhere,' says Mohammad Alaika Rahmatullah from advocacy group Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation (Ecoton).
Similarly, the Philippines consumes around 164 million single-use sachets daily, which account for an estimated 52 per cent of its plastic footprint.
A poor waste disposal culture compounds the situation in both countries.
Edi, 54, who wants to be known only by that name and lives beside one of Jakarta's many small rivers, says: 'Residents throw their rubbish in the river because it's easy. After seeing them, I imitated them because I didn't want to go far to throw away the rubbish.'
In 2022, an Ecoton team found microplastic contamination in almost all the 68 Indonesian rivers they investigated.
The Philippines, meanwhile, has no regulations requiring companies or water treatment plants to tackle or remove microplastics, says Onda. 'We don't know how efficient the water treatment plants are, primarily because there's no policy that they need to comply with.'
Urban expansion has also outpaced waste management services.
'Sometimes there are no bins, there are no material recovery facilities in our barangays or villages,' says Marian Frances Ledesma, a zero-waste campaigner for Greenpeace Philippines. '(So) there's no way for (villagers) to properly dispose of different kinds of waste.'
In Jakarta, rubbish trucks may struggle to access some areas, leading residents there to litter too.
Even collected waste poses risks. 'The accumulation of plastic waste in landfills is very dangerous,' says Mufti.
'Because over time, plastic will disintegrate … into small particles and flow into gutters, canals, rivers, the sea or seep into the ground.'
Jakarta's Bantar Gebang landfill, which holds an estimated 45 million tonnes of waste, is also rapidly reaching capacity.
In the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam, waste imports from developed countries help to buttress their recycling industries. But not all trash is given a second life — and Indonesia, along with Thailand, has banned such imports as of this year.
'Because (the imported waste) is residual, and they're dumping (it) everywhere, … it's contributing directly to microplastic pollution,' says Abdul Gofar, a campaign manager for the Indonesian Forum for the Environment.
BAD FOR BRAIN, HEART AND BABIES
For the family of Clarizza Bacungan, 35, who lives and works in Happyland — a Manila slum named after the Bisaya word 'hapilan', meaning garbage dump — scavenging for plastic waste to sell to recyclers can be a risky business.
'They show on television how dangerous it is to play with plastics or if plastics get mixed in the food that children eat,' she says. 'I get worried too. You could end up in hospital … if it's a poisonous substance.'
While scientists have known about the ubiquity of microplastics for some time, they are beginning to understand the health impact now.
Philippine toxicology consultant John Paul Ner, who works at Bataan General Hospital and Medical Centre, says smaller microplastics that enter the bloodstream can be filtered out by the kidneys.
The immune system will also 'eat' these microplastics but can only eliminate them up to a point, he warns. What remains may cause harm.
A study published last year in the journal Toxicology found that nanoplastics — comparable in size to DNA strands and viruses — can cross the blood-brain barrier, the cell membranes protecting the brain from harmful substances while allowing nutrients to pass through.
Researchers also suggest a link between microplastics and cognitive decline.
'For example, those with high exposure to microplastics are about 36.25 times more vulnerable to experiencing cognitive disorders … compared to those with little exposure or low microplastic consumption patterns,' cites neurologist Pukovisa Prawiroharjo in the University of Indonesia's medical faculty.
Animal studies have sounded similar warnings. In 2023, researchers observed that mice exposed to microplastics for just three weeks began showing signs of cognitive decline resembling dementia in humans.
The cardiovascular system is not spared either. A study last year examining arterial plaque in patients with heart disease found traces of microplastics in plaques of more than half the patients.
Those individuals were nearly five times more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke than patients without plastic contamination in their arteries.
'If microplastics … group together, that has the potential to block arteries,' says Pukovisa, 'or at least make the blood flow become irregular at some point.'
There is the potential for harm even before birth. 'While the placenta has a protective barrier, not all substances can be filtered out,' Ner says. 'Very small particles can pass through the placental barrier.
'This means even the baby could be at risk of being exposed to these plastic particles.'
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For Bacungan's five children — numbering among an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 Happyland residents — the risk is that certain chemicals leached from microplastics can interfere with child development, as research has suggested.
Around 16,000 chemicals are used in various plastics, of which more than 4,000 chemicals are considered hazardous to humans, highlights Ledesma.
Despite the risks, Bacungan says scavenging remains her family's only source of livelihood, covering their living expenses such as their children's pocket money. 'This is the only work that we can do to eat,' she adds.
Still, she dreams of a better life for her children, one far away from their settlement that receives more than its fair share of the 10,000 tonnes of waste that Metro Manila discards daily, at the least.
'I hope they finish their studies,' she says. 'Once their lives improve, they'll move away from here.'
SHIFTING MINDSETS, WORKING UPSTREAM
That better life may not be too far off. A growing number of Philippine cities have adopted 'Trash to Cashback' programmes, which allow residents to exchange recyclable plastics for points redeemable for food and other essentials.
Launched in 2021, the scheme aims to shrink the mountain of single-use plastics degrading in landfills. It has collected more than 300,000kg of plastic waste as of last year.
Indonesia, too, is scaling up its recycling model. Plastic waste is to be sorted at village-level collection points and later picked up by industry or recycling partners.
'We hope the (adoption) can be fast. And when the guidelines are available, they can be used by 75,000 villages,' says Novrizal Tahar, the director of waste management in Indonesia's Ministry of Environment.
Still, recycling is no silver bullet.
'Plastic can only be recycled two to three times because of the way it's made,' Ledesma points out, '(after which) it gets thrown away and ends up in a landfill because it's no longer fit for recycling.'
To tackle the problem at its root, authorities are turning their focus upstream — rethinking how plastic is produced and consumed in the first place. Indonesia, for example, has pledged to phase out single-use plastics by the end of 2029.
'Around 130 local governments have implemented policies to limit single-use plastic,' Novrizal says.
Behavioural shifts are starting to take hold too. After Jakarta banned single-use plastic bags in shopping centres, convenience stores and markets in 2020, annual plastic bag usage at the household level dropped by 42 per cent within a year.
A growing number of countries are also exploring extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws, which hold manufacturers financially responsible for the entire life cycle of their products, including post-consumer waste.
The 'polluter pays' model is designed to discourage companies from churning out excessive plastic packaging in the first place.
But ultimately, according to Onda, the plastic problem runs deeper. 'Why people consume plastic is because they need food, and the food that they're able to afford are those that are stored in smaller packages,' he says.
'So if we can't address the problem on the socio-economic part, it'd be very difficult to address the problem on the environmental side.'