The Asia Pacific (AP) region has long been a scapegoat for the plastic pollution crisis, with various reports and articles identifying several Asian countries as the top sources of plastic pollution.
However, these often fail to represent the complete picture—particularly, the impact of the decisions made by corporations and governments outside of Asia that are affecting and spurring the crisis in this region.
In a six-part podcast series, the Break Free From Plastic (BFFP) movement aims to take back control of the narrative with The Podcast of Plastic. The podcast is inspired by the Emmy-awarded documentary The Story of Plastic, which not only shows the bigger picture around the plastics crisis, but also refutes preconceived notions about Asia as the source of the problem.
Hosted by Goodwill Ambassador for UN Environment Programme and Filipina actress, Antoinette Taus, the podcast also makes counterpoints about Asia being an abundant source of solutions and highlights many of the heroes across the region.
The podcast also features several changemakers from different parts of Asia such as Yobel Putra of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), and Nusa Urbancic of Changing Markets Foundation, Mageswari Sangaralingam of Consumers’ Association of Penang, Malaysia, and more.
On top of that, the podcast also challenges various norms in our society that largely contribute to the never-ending problem of plastic pollution. This includes illegal waste trade in Asia, fossil fuels, single-use plastics and the like.
“Quote from BFFP representative answering their vision in starting this podcast, especially now that pandemic made us use more plastics for safety purposes”
“The BFFP movement has enjoyed significant support from the public throughout the years. In order for us to reach new audiences—particularly those who may have previously been unaware of the bigger picture surrounding the plastic pollution crisis—BFFP has decided to explore a medium that’s growing in popularity across the world: podcasting. Through this venture, we hope to gain a significant size of new audiences while pushing for our messages and debunking industry-peddled myths and fallacies about the plastic pollution crisis,” said Jed Alegado, Asia Pacific Senior Communications Officer of BFFP.
The Podcast of Plastic is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcast streaming platforms. You may follow the podcast, rate it 5 stars and hit the notification bell to be updated on the show.
