on sustainability … but if the plastics issue gets prolonged, we expect demand to further increase,” said Kim Min-sang, a senior manager at parent Kolmar Korea. The supplier to major firms, such as France’s L’Oréal, has fielded inquiries mainly for paper tubes encasing items such as sunscreen and lotions that use just 20 per cent of the plastic employed by conventional packaging, Kim told Reuters. Across Asia, home to some of the world’s biggest plastic users and polluters, changes sought by environmental groups for decades are being adopted quickly, even if they may prove to be a short-term fix. More uncertainty ahead Asia is not only heavily reliant on feedstock imported from the Middle East, but it is hooked on plastic, with China, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia together using almost a third of the world’s total by 2022, OECD data showed, up 900 per cent since 1990. The region also accounts for more than a third of all plastic waste leaking into the environment, thanks to poor waste collection methods in low-income Southeast Asian nations. Japan ranks behind only the US in terms of plastic production and consumption per head, according to a 2025 study by researchers from Beijing’s Tsinghua University published in the science journal Nature. Wholesalers there have been warning about possible shortages of plastic trays and bags, said Kensuke Takahashi, product manager for Marutake supermarket in Saitama, adjacent to Tokyo. “We now have to discuss how to sell our products if trays are no longer supplied at all,” said Takahashi. “I’m very worried. We really don’t know what will happen.” Japanese makers of plastic bags and cling wrap, Mitsubishi Chemical and Sanipak, have said they will raise prices by about 30 per cent in the coming weeks for some products as the conflict drives up costs of raw materials. Forced to pivot Talks on a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution stalled last year after the US and plastic-producing countries pushed back against a European Union-led drive to cap plastic production. It is one of several environmental initiatives to lose steam under US President Donald Trump, who has called climate change a hoax. Trump’s sweeping trade tariffs were also a blow to Taiwan’s Lastic, which makes bamboo-based biodegradable material, said senior development manager Luke Anderson. American airlines, which were eyeing the material to replace disposable plastic cups and cutlery, lost interest after Trump imposed levies on US imports last year, he said. Now that the price of plastic has risen, several of his US buyers have sought fresh quotes. “It’s not that I like to look at the upside of war, but … if you can’t control it, you’ve got to find the silver lining,” he said. Some companies are adapting with new alternatives. In Malaysia, dairy producer Farm Fresh said it has temporarily switched to paper-based milk cartons due to disruptions in plastic supply. But there is no quick fix for others, such as South Korea’s Gaone International, which makes packaging for face masks. Testing new materials would take time, so it has slashed daily output to between 10 per cent and 20 per cent from the usual 1 million units as it hunts for new suppliers. The 20-year-old factory is now warning clients of a wait of up to eight weeks for orders to be filled, and expects revenue to suffer accordingly, said sales team manager Han Kyung-hun. “I hope things return to normal as soon as possible,” said Han, but cautioned recovery could take a couple of months, even if the war ended immediately. Reporting Yunji Ha, Minwoo Park and Brenda Goh in Seoul; Kaori Kaneko, Hina Suzuki and John Geddie in Tokyo; and Mandy Leong in Kuala Lumpur. Editing by Clarence Fernandez. All courtesy of Reuters. Further reading: Why Amazon believes AI could reduce packing