Myanmar

• Myanmar National Waste Management Strategy and Master Plan for Myanmar for 2018-2030 lists plastic as one of the priority waste streams and generally promotes a 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) approach.
• With the World Bank’s technical assistance under the Regional Marine Plastics Framework and Action Plan through PROBLUE Trust Fund, plastics policy options and a roadmap (draft) have been developed through the survey and assessment for the top 10 priority plastic items leaking into the environment in Myanmar, which will be included in the national plastic action plan. It identified 14 policy options and grouped them into short-term, mid-term, and long-term measures.
• State and Regional Plastic Waste Management Plans have developed by State and Region Environmental Conservation Department staff with the cooperation of other relevant departments and stakeholders.

Myanmar do not allow importing plastic waste but allow the import of plastic scrap only under these criteria:

1. Plastic scrap to be imported must be clean, homogenous and ready to be used as raw materials
2. Recycling factories must have an Approval Letter or Environmental Compliance Certificate of an Environmental Management Plan, Initial Environmental Examination or Environmental Impact Assessment, which is approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation.

Names of actions:
Beach Clean up activities by local government and NGOs

Brief description:
Local government make cleanup activities on Myanmar beaches such as Napali, Chaungtha, Setse and Ngwe Saung beach to inspire local communities, on how young people can take action to aware about single-use plastics and how they can reduce, reuse and recycle.

We have seen a positive improvement over the last two years

Local level:

Names of actions:
“Sunday Stop” campaign

Brief description:
In State and Region, State and Regional Environmental Conservation Department conduct awareness raising campaign on stop using single use plastic packaging on Sunday in markets.

Names of actions:
“No Thank You" campaign

Brief description:
To help support the vendors and reduce plastic waste, Prevent Plastics launched the “No Thank You” campaign, requesting vendors to put up a poster featuring the message “Your refusal toward one plastic bag can help support the vendor to save up nine kyats.”
Without needing persuasion, vendors happily put up posters at their shops, sharing that their lives would be much easier if shoppers brought their own bags. By reducing the number of plastic bags they use, vendors can save money and reduce their impact on the environment.
 
By saying “No Thank You” to plastic bags, shoppers can make a significant impact on the environment while also supporting local vendors.
More Info >> https:// preventplastics.org/ the-no-thank-you-campaign-supporting-vendors-and-reducing-plastic-use/

Names of actions:
awareness raising activities

Brief description:
State and Region Environmental Conservation Departments conducted awareness raising activities in states and regions with the cooperation of relevant stakeholders and department.

Local level:

We have seen a positive improvement over the last two years

Names of actions:
A study conducted by the Fridtjof Nansen research vessel

Brief description:
with the support of the Government of Norway, FAO, Norway Institute of Marine Research (IMR) and Department of Fishery under Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation cooperated and implemented “The EAF- Nansen PROGRAMME” in 2018. In the 2018 survey, microplastic particles were widespread, with highest numbers recorded in the Rakhine area in the shallowest stations. Less particles were found in the Delta region, despite the fact that usually highest concentrations are found in the proximity of river outlets. This could be explained by the higher amount of freshwater during the monsoon season.

Names of actions:
“Litter on the seafloor along the African coast and in the Bay of Bengal based on trawl bycatches from 2011 to 2020” (L. Buhl- Mortensen et al., 2022),

Brief description:
According to research paper “Litter on the seafloor along the African coast and in the Bay of Bengal based on trawl bycatches from 2011 to 2020” (L. Buhl- Mortensen et al., 2022), in the countries of the Bay of Bengal such as Myanmar and Thailand were relatively high litters related to fishing gears. Fishing gears dominated records of weight for Morocco, Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

We have seen a positive improvement over the last two years

Brief description:
The Ministry of Environment Japan supported Myanmar in training of monitoring methods for floating litter and floating microplastics training based on the 3rd Myanmar-Japan Policy Dialogue on Environmental issues.