Publication: Introduction to the Malaysian Plastic Circularity Series
Loading...
Published
2025-09-03
ISSN
Date
2025-09-24
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Malaysia faces considerable challenges with marine plastic debris, primarily due to mismanaged plastic waste from land-based sources such as packaging. This mismanagement leads to global economic costs by disrupting natural systems and urban infrastructure. Within Malaysia, the packaging sector is the dominant consumer of plastic, followed by the electrical and electronics sector, which uses plastic for components and household appliances. The automotive and construction industries also contribute significantly to plastic consumption, while the healthcare sector, though a smaller consumer, presents promising opportunities for circularity initiatives. The Malaysian Plastic Circularity Series builds on this context through five studies aimed at fostering a more sustainable and self-sufficient plastic economy. It focuses on improving the collection and quality of domestic feedstock for recycling and identifying circularity opportunities in sectors that have traditionally received less attention than packaging. This report is a component of the Malaysian Plastic Circularity Series, a market assessment conducted in 2023 and 2024 with the objective of offering comprehensive insights into the Malaysian plastic recycling economy. It covers topics along the value chain, including feedstock collection, infrastructure, policies, and initiatives aimed at addressing plastic waste challenges, with an in-depth analysis of the electrical and electronics (E&E), automotive, construction, and healthcare sectors.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2025. Introduction to the Malaysian Plastic Circularity Series. Malaysian Plastic Circularity Series; No. 1. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/43765 License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication The Circular Plastics Economy in Mozambique(Washington, DC, 2021)The World Bank Group developed the Mozambique problue program (MozAzul) to provide comprehensive technical assistance to the Government of Mozambique on the blue economy agenda. The objective of the MozAzul program is to strengthen the knowledge base on the sustainable blue economy development in Mozambique, and under pillar 2, specifically on marine litter. This study is intended to inform the government’s upcoming national action plan to combat marine litter as well as intensify engagement with stakeholders, including innovators and around new business models. It is mainly concerned with assessing the circular economy opportunities in Mozambique as they relate to marine plastics litter. The assignment forming the basis of this study has set its parameters on the upstream (pre-waste) opportunities for plastics circularity, leveraging the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s ReSOLVE framework to map out the various levers that organizations may employ in their transition towards improved material efficiency. The methodology leverages extensive desk research, the collection of primary data through interviews with relevant stakeholders located in Mozambique, and interviews with key stakeholders who can provide insight on the circular opportunities and existing business models practiced in Mozambique. The methodology also leverages real-time findings concurrently being developed by local and international experts, and organizations conducting parallel studies (i.e. IUCN). As of the writing of this report, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to hamper Mozambique’s economy and health sectors. As a result of the ongoing pandemic, this report is decidedly both more thorough in explaining the new concepts and approaches leading to the explanation of circular economy opportunities in Mozambique, and simultaneously less reliant on local stakeholder interviews than initially intended.Publication Exploring Plastic Circularity Opportunities in the Healthcare Sector(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-09-03)Malaysia’s healthcare sector accounts for less than three percent of national plastic consumption, making it one of the smallest consumers. Despite its low usage, global plastic circularity initiatives highlight the sector’s potential for deeper exploration. These efforts offer valuable lessons as Malaysia begins to engage with plastic sustainability in healthcare. This sixth report in the Malaysian Plastic Circularity Series provides a detailed assessment of plastic use and recycling in the healthcare sector. It aims to identify opportunities to improve circularity and attract private sector investment, contributing to broader efforts to address plastic waste challenges across Malaysia’s recycling value chain.Publication Exploring Plastic Circularity Opportunities in the Construction Sector(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-09-03)Malaysia’s construction sector, the fourth largest plastic consumer, contributes around six percent of national plastic usage. Despite this, plastic circularity efforts have largely focused on packaging and consumer goods, leaving construction underexplored. The sector’s plastic recycling rate is estimated to be below one percent, highlighting the need for targeted initiatives. This fifth report in the Malaysian Plastic Circularity Series provides a detailed assessment of plastic use and recycling in construction, aiming to uncover opportunities for circularity and attract private sector investment. It forms part of a broader market study covering feedstock, infrastructure, policies, and sector-specific challenges across Malaysia’s plastic recycling economy.Publication Exploring Plastic Circularity Opportunities in the Automotive Sector(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-09-03)Malaysia’s automotive sector generates significant plastic waste from end-of-life vehicles, with polypropylene (PP) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) identified as key recyclable materials. However, only a small portion of this durable plastic waste is collected and recycled, underscoring the need for open-loop, cross-sector recycling efforts. A national collaborative approach is essential to improve recycling rates. This fourth report in the Malaysian Plastic Circularity Series offers insights into Malaysia’s plastic recycling economy, focusing on the automotive sector’s durable plastic value chain. It aims to identify market opportunities and attract private sector investment to strengthen recycling infrastructure and practices.Publication Exploring Feedstock Opportunities to Advance Domestic Circularity in Malaysia’s Plastic Recycling(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-09-03)Malaysia's plastic recycling sector has historically relied on imported plastic waste. Imported plastic provides some certainty and scale for feedstocks that are ready and suitable for recycling, making up for Malaysia's low domestic plastic waste collection. To foster a more sustainable future, the country aims to reduce its dependency on imports by prioritizing the development and enhancement of domestic waste management systems, ultimately striving for a circular economy. This report is the second in the Malaysian Plastic Circularity Series, a market assessment conducted in 2023-2024 with the objective of providing comprehensive insights into Malaysia's plastic recycling economy. It covers topics along the value chain, including feedstock collection, infrastructure, policies, and initiatives to address plastic waste challenges, with an in-depth analysis of the electrical and electronics (E&E), automotive, construction, and healthcare sectors.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Togo Economic Update, August 2025: Boosting Growth and Restoring Fiscal Space in Uncertain Times(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-08-28)Togo’s economic trajectory in recent years has been shaped by both resilient performance and emerging vulnerabilities. The 2025 Economic Update underscores the urgency of restoring fiscal space and implementing strategic structural reforms to sustain private sector-led growth and job creation. Through an integrated analysis in two chapters, the report presents a nuanced narrative of the country’s macroeconomic outlook and delineates actionable policy paths to foster inclusive, sustainable development.Publication Sahel Irrigation Strategy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-09-05)The Sahel Irrigation Strategy aims to guide participating countries to scale up irrigation expansion and modernization rapidly and responsibly with a more diverse suite of interventions to optimize the use of their natural and financial resources. It provides a comprehensive roadmap to unlock the full potential of sustainable irrigation as a driver of agricultural productivity, food security, and resilience across the Sahel. Its primary objectives include taking stock of the progress achieved over the past decade, identifying emerging trends and challenges, and moving beyond problem identification to actionable solutions rooted in lessons learned. The strategy establishes updated and shared goals for irrigated agriculture tailored to short-term (2035), medium-term (2045), and long-term (2055) horizons. These targets are accompanied by a clear framework for intervention, designed to foster collective commitment and coordinated efforts among the six Sahelian countries.Publication Digital Progress and Trends Report 2025: Strengthening AI Foundations(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-24)The recent rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) has outpaced society’s ability to fully grasp its implications. Unlike technological shifts that have unfolded over decades, AI’s integration is accelerating at an unprecedented speed and scale. Along with AI’s immense opportunities come new responsibilities—especially for ethical deployment, accountability, and alignment with human values—that have few precedents in previous technology revolutions. This 2025 edition of the "Digital Progress and Trends Report (DPTR)" explores how low- and middle-income countries can harness AI to drive inclusive and sustainable development—and avoid being left behind. The report explains what makes AI different from earlier general-purpose technologies and why it matters for development. It introduces the 4Cs, the foundations essential for AI adoption, adaptation, and innovation: connectivity (infrastructure), compute (processing power), context (training data, algorithms, and applications), and competency (digital skills). Drawing on rich, novel data sets, this DPTR benchmarks countries across the 4Cs, analyzes supply and demand dynamics, and identifies market failures and externalities where policy action is urgently needed. This report emphasizes the need for global coordination and targeted interventions to close the widening AI gaps, where resource constraints threaten to exacerbate inequality. Policy insights will help governments unlock AI’s potential while navigating its risks.Publication Uganda Country Climate and Development Report(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-09-10)The Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) for Uganda examines the interplay between climate change and development. It presents how addressing climate change can support achieving the goals in Uganda’s Vision 2040 and Ten-Fold Growth Strategy, and help propel the country to upper-middle-income status. Uganda is the 14th most vulnerable nation to climate change, yet it is 163rd in readiness to address these risks, facing threats such as droughts and floods. The report highlights that, of the poorest households exposed to climate change, 80 percent already experience income loss from climate shocks. GDP could also drop by up to 3.1 percent by 2050 without additional climate action. Climate change poses numerous challenges, including increased variability in crop yields, potential internal climate migration of 12 million people by 2050, notable drop in labor productivity due to heat stress, increased health risks from waterborne diseases and malaria, and exposure of the country’s physical infrastructure to extreme climate events. To combat these challenges, the report recommends transitioning to a low-carbon, climate-resilient growth path by implementing four multisectoral intervention packages. These include boosting resilience through jobs for youth and services for the poor; promoting resilient and productive agriculture and natural resources with lower GHG emissions; developing climate-responsive energy, transport, and digital infrastructure; and fostering planned and climate-positive urbanization. Additionally, the report calls for whole-of-economy measures that strengthen governance of climate action, enhance preparedness for climate hazards including through improved early warning systems, operationalization of the national climate finance strategy, and incentivizing private sector participation. By implementing these intervention packages and whole-of-economy measures, Uganda can lower its risk to climate change and achieve sustainable economic growth.Publication Jobs in a Changing Climate: Insights from World Bank Group Country Climate and Development Reports Covering 93 Economies(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-05)The World Bank Group’s Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDRs) provide a crosscutting look at how countries’ development prospects, and the job opportunities they offer to their people, can be threatened by climate impacts and supported by climate policies. Climate change and policies affect jobs through impacts on productivity, energy and material efficiency, and physical, human, and natural capital. They can also transform employment opportunities, especially through complementary measures that help workers and firms adapt to and benefit from new technologies and production practices. Prepared by the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), CCDRs integrate country perspectives, climate science and economic modeling, private sector information, and policy analysis to assess how countries can successfully grow and develop their economies and create jobs despite increasing climate risks and while achieving their climate objectives and commitments. Each CCDR starts from the country’s development priorities, opportunities, and challenges, and is developed in close consultation with governments, businesses, and civil society, ensuring the recommendations reflect national priorities. By combining evidence on adaptation, resilience, and emissions pathways, CCDRs highlight where climate action can reinforce development and job creation, and where targeted policies are needed to manage risks and smooth labor market transitions. Taken together, these elements can help create local jobs, ensure economic transitions are just and inclusive, and equip workers and firms to navigate the disruptions and opportunities of a changing climate and changing technologies.