Southeast Asia has seen the problem of plastic waste grow in urgency as fast-paced urbanization, a reliance on single-use plastic products, and continued plastic production have made plastic a convenient choice for its population of over 650 million people.

This surge in plastic use is why we at Climate Tracker, in partnership with global movement Break Free from Plastic, attempted to assess media coverage of plastics in Southeast Asia before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We looked at articles published in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines from March 2019 to February 2021.

In this episode, researchers from across the region shared their findings and the long-term change they want to see in the media discourse of plastics.