Circularity Rising: How Asia is Embracing a New Resource‑Smart Future
Asia faces a dual challenge: rapid economic growth and soaring resource consumption. Historically, much of the region followed a “take‑make‑dispose” model, leading to environmental stress, large volumes of waste, and growing pollution.
Circularity — the idea of reducing waste, reusing materials, recycling resources, and designing for sustainability — offers a path to reverse the damage, lower carbon emissions, and build more resilient economies.
In 2025, this transition gained renewed urgency with dramatic shifts in policy, funding, and cross‑country cooperation.
Regional Push: New Frameworks and Declarations
A landmark development was the 12th Regional 3R and Circular Economy Forum in Asia and the Pacific held in March 2025 in Jaipur. The Forum culminated in the Jaipur 3R and Circular Economy Declaration (2025–2035), a commitment by participating countries to build resource‑efficient, resilient, low‑carbon societies across Asia and Pacific.
Under this Declaration, nations aim to mainstream the principles of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (3R), embed circularity into national planning, and promote sustainable consumption & production models.
The Forum also highlighted how circular economy could contribute to climate goals and sustainable development, paving the way for a decade of coordinated action across sectors.
Country‑Level Roadmaps and Policy Moves
Taiwan — Drafting a Long‑Term Circular Vision
In late 2025, Taiwan unveiled its draft 2050 Taiwan Circular Economy Roadmap. The plan aims to nearly double resource productivity, cut per‑capita material consumption by about 30%, and raise the island’s “circularity rate” to 2.5 times its 2020 level. The roadmap encompasses multiple sectors — textiles, plastics, electronics, construction, energy and more — emphasizing reuse, recycling, eco‑design, and circular procurement practices.
By shifting away from end-of-pipe waste disposal and toward systemic reuse, Taiwan hopes to become a regional hub for circularity and set a benchmark for others in Asia.
Maharashtra (India) — From Sewage to Opportunity
Closer home, in India’s western state Maharashtra, the state cabinet recently approved a policy to treat and reuse sewage and wastewater across 424 urban local bodies. The reform — backed by a ₹500 crore budget — aims to supply non‑potable treated water for industrial, urban, and agricultural use, reducing freshwater demand and preventing untreated sewage discharge into rivers and seas.
This illustrates that circularity isn’t just about plastics or packaging — it’s about water, urban resilience, and resource-efficient infrastructure, especially in fast‑growing metro zones.
Regional Plastic Recovery Efforts
On a broader Asia‑wide scale, multi-country initiatives are improving plastic waste management across South and Southeast Asia. Projects support the establishment of material-recovery infrastructure, bring waste workers into formal systems, and aim to recover tens of thousands of tons of plastic waste while improving livelihoods of waste collectors.
Such cross-border cooperation underscores the shared stakes and transnational nature of circularity challenges in Asia.
Innovation, Business Models and Urban Experiments
Circular economy in Asia is not only about policies — business innovation and urban experiments are also playing a big role. Some notable examples:
In the urban landscape of Yokohama (Japan), the city adopted the Asian Circular Cities Declaration in 2025, becoming the first Asian city to do so. Local projects such as the “Minato Mirai Circular City Project” integrate district-level material flow analysis to track resource use, promote waste reduction, and support decarbonization. Meanwhile, “smart lockers” called “SDGs Lockers” are being used to distribute still‑edible food that would otherwise go to waste — an innovative, community‑scale food‑loss reduction model.
Emerging business models are shifting away from ownership‑centric consumption. For instance, a startup based in Bangkok offers a “pay‑as‑you‑use” subscription service for recyclable mattresses. Instead of buying and discarding mattresses, customers subscribe, and the company ensures collection, refurbishment, or recycling — minimizing waste from durable consumer goods.
On the materials side, research into advanced recycling — including for plastics that haven’t historically been recyclable — is gaining ground. Such innovations open up opportunities to recover value from previously “unrecyclable” waste streams, supporting resource recovery and circular material flows.
Challenges & Gaps: Why Circularity Isn’t Yet the Norm
Despite progress, Asia faces serious obstacles in realizing full circularity:
Lack of harmonized policies and fragmented regulatory frameworks across countries hinder effective plastic circularity. Many Asian nations still struggle with mismanaged plastic waste, especially in coastal and riverine zones.
Economic models focused only on recycling may underestimate the true potential of circularity. Current circularity metrics often overlook higher-value strategies — such as reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and optimizing existing “stock” of products.
Informal waste workers — often central to recycling and resource recovery — remain largely unprotected. Without social security, adequate wages, or safe working conditions, depending solely on informal systems undermines the social justice dimension of circularity.
Infrastructure and investment gaps remain significant in many parts of Asia, especially outside major cities. Building formal recycling plants, material recovery facilities, collection systems, and efficient waste-stream management requires funding, policy support, and stakeholder coordination.
Why This Matters — and What’s at Stake
Investing in circularity can deliver multiple dividends for Asia:
Economic growth & job creation: Projections suggest that a robust circular economy could generate trillions in value and millions of jobs by 2050.
Environmental protection: Reduced waste, lower resource extraction, decreased pollution, and more sustainable use of materials help curb climate impact and protect ecosystems.
Resilience & sustainability: Circular practices help cities and countries become more resource-secure, less reliant on imports, more self-sufficient, and better prepared for climate change.
Social equity: Formalizing waste management systems can improve livelihoods of waste workers, extend social safety nets, and bring dignity to recycling and resource-recovery work.
Conclusion: From Promise to Practice — The Road Ahead
Asia’s circular economy movement has made impressive strides in 2024–2025. With political will, intergovernmental collaboration, and growing private-sector engagement, the vision of a resource‑efficient, low‑waste Asia is becoming more tangible. The Declaration emerging from the Jaipur Forum gives a roadmap — but real change will depend on translating commitments into concrete policies, infrastructure, and community participation.
To succeed, countries will need to go beyond recycling: embrace repair, reuse, re‑design; formalize informal sectors; invest in waste-management and recovery systems; and align circular models with social equity and climate goals.
If that happens — Asia may not only avert a waste and pollution crisis — but also unlock a new engine of sustainable growth, jobs, and environmental resilience.
