31 July 2025
By: Anisa Ismail Mary Assunta – Camness
As the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution prepares for what could be its final round of talks this August in Geneva, ASEAN nations face a defining moment. Home to some of the world’s top plastic-polluting countries, the region is drowning in its dependence on single-use plastics. But with global momentum building toward a binding Plastics Treaty, ASEAN has a rare chance—not just to be at the table, but to lead the charge in reversing the tide of plastic waste.
In 2017, the Cambodian Ministry of Environment introduced legislation to reduce plastic bag use, and in 2023, the country joined the World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership alongside 24 other countries including Indonesia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, and Viet Nam. In addition to Cambodia, six ASEAN countries are already implementing policies that address single-use plastics: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
Regional commitment is growing too. In 2021, ASEAN member states launched a five-year regional action plan for combating marine debris. In 2024, the member states reaffirmed their commitment with a declaration on plastic circularity, but the existing national and regional efforts are piecemeal and do not match the sheer scale and scope of the problem.
The Hidden Toll of Plastic Waste
The problem of single-use plastics pollution is often represented by plastic bags, bottles, or straws via shocking depictions of the effects these items have on our ecosystems, perhaps most famously a video of a turtle with a plastic straw wedged up its nose. While these items are an indisputable part of the problem, they do not tell the whole story.
Cigarette butts (used cigarette filters) are the number one most littered item in the world.
4.5 trillion cigarette butts are discarded globally every single year, contaminating our soil, polluting our waterways, and poisoning our flora and fauna with nicotine, arsenic, formaldehyde, and lead, among other toxic chemicals. Largely made of cellulose acetate, cigarette filters take 10 to 15 years to degrade into microplastics. Yet, the tobacco industry escapes scrutiny for its starring role in the environmental pollution crisis.
To top it all off, cigarette filters are useless and a misnomer. They do not filter out any of the toxins in cigarettes, and are in fact linked to a more aggressiveform of cancer. They serve as a marketing tool for tobacco companies, designed to deceive smokers into a false sense of safety and “reduced harm” that encourages smokers to continue smoking instead of quitting.
ASEAN countries are significantly affected by this two-headed health and environmental crisis. Smoking is heavily normalized, smoking prevalence is high, and the tobacco industry is aggressive and deeply influential. Governments and communities alike are exploited by the profit-focused tobacco industry.
ASEAN countries will have to spend nearly $10 billion annually on managing marine pollution and waste management caused by a combined 463 billion cigarette butts and other tobacco product packaging. Cambodia alone will need to spend an estimated 413 billion Riels ($103 million) every year for this purpose, on top of the trillions of riel spent on tobacco-related health care costs annually.
Cigarette Filters Must Go
The obvious solution is to get rid of filters entirely, but tobacco companies avoid responsibility by shifting the focus to individual consumer actions, through tokenistic gestures such as installing waste canisters for tobacco products and sponsoring beach cleanups of cigarette butts, all while still promoting filtered cigarettes to new and existing customers.
It is really governments who must act. And action is possible. In October 2024, Santa Cruz County in California, United States announced the world’s first cigarette filter ban. More US states are considering taking similar action, and filter bans have been recommended by the Ministries of Environment in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The World Health Organization agrees. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is clear in its position; cigarette filters must be banned immediately – not only because they provide no health benefit, but also because of their major environmental impact. But the soon-to-be-finalized United Nations Global Plastics Treaty – a legally-binding instrument to tackle plastic pollution – has not yet adopted the same position. And the WHO FCTC is not referenced at all in the current draft of the treaty.
Nearly every ASEAN country has participated actively in the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastics Pollution since the first round of negotiations began in Uruguay in late 2022. The stakes are high for this region, and ASEAN negotiators must work to ensure the treaty does not ignore the health implications of plastics pollution as a whole, and the significant health impacts caused by cigarette filters in particular.
Strengthening the inextricable health and environmental link in the plastics treaty will also be crucial to prevent the tobacco industry’s attempts to exploit loopholes by promoting “safer” alternatives or biodegradable options to cigarette filters.
With the exception of Indonesia, every ASEAN member state is a Party to the WHO FCTC. This region is well aware of the staggering harms of tobacco, and the industry’s tactics to protect their profits. ASEAN countries have demonstrated strong commitment to implementing and enforcing tobacco control measures, with Cambodia’s comprehensive tobacco control lawserving as a good example.
The ASEAN region – home to over 600 million people – is incredibly rich in biodiversity. It is also currently drowning in plastic waste. We need strong political will to build on commitments made and to champion critical interventions that will protect us, our lands, and our waters for generations to come.
The time is now for ASEAN countries to speak authoritatively and act decisively. The choices we make now will shape our future. Will we continue to flounder, or will we stand up for a safer, cleaner, and more livable planet?