Facing headwinds at home, Europe and Japan are pushing waste-to-energy technology across South East Asia

For decades, waste-to-energy has been a key waste management tool in developed countries. Now, they are looking to developing markets. There are dozens of waste-to-energy incineration plants planned or under construction across South East Asia using Japanese and European technology and framed as clean or renewable.

However, in Thailand and two other key markets, Indonesia and the Philippines, there is active pushback from local communities and environmentalists, who fear that incineration could lead to increased pollution, harm local communities and perpetuate the production of fossil fuel-based single-use plastics as fuel for the plant.