Indorama Ventures CSO Urges Thailand to Strengthen Green Policies for Sustainable Growth

Indorama Ventures’ Chief Sustainability Officer has called on Thailand to strengthen and build upon its green policies to accelerate sustainable economic growth. The company emphasizes that clear regulations, stronger incentives, and greater collaboration between government and industry can encourage investment in circularity, clean technologies, and low-carbon solutions. By creating a supportive policy environment, Thailand can enhance industrial competitiveness, attract sustainable investment, advance its climate ambitions, and position itself as a regional leader in green economic development.

Thailand’s Circular Economy Moment

At Sustainability Expo 2026 (SX2026) in Bangkok, Indorama Ventures’ Chief Sustainability Officer, Dr. Anthony M. Watanabe, presented a forward-looking vision for accelerating Thailand’s shift toward a circular economy.

Drawing on Indorama Ventures’ extensive recycling operations, Watanabe argued that Thailand is entering a decisive period as it develops its Sustainable Packaging Management Act. With the company recycling the equivalent of more than 766 PET bottles every second, its global experience provides valuable lessons on what makes recycling systems work at scale.

For Thailand, the challenge is not simply introducing ambitious environmental rules. The country needs policies that are practical, enforceable, and designed around local economic realities.

Global Lessons Thailand Can Put to Work

International experience demonstrates that ambitious sustainability targets can fall short when enforcement mechanisms are weak.

Watanabe highlighted Brazil as a cautionary example, where recycled-content requirements lacked sufficient enforcement. This weakened their effectiveness, with some multinational businesses scaling back targets while domestic companies had little incentive to comply.

Vietnam encountered a different problem with its Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations. Structural weaknesses ultimately meant that authorities had to abandon the original framework and redesign the approach.

Thailand therefore has an opportunity to learn from these experiences rather than repeat them. Clear policy direction, gradual implementation, realistic targets, EPR mechanisms, and design-for-recycling standards could create a system that businesses are actually able and required to follow.

Making the Green Transition Inclusive

Environmental progress also needs to account for the millions of people whose livelihoods depend on Thailand’s informal economy.

Around 12 million people work within the informal sector, according to the government statistics cited by Watanabe, and many play an important role in the country’s collection and recycling ecosystem.

As packaging regulations become more formalized, smaller participants should not be pushed out by complicated or expensive compliance requirements. Shared compliance arrangements, straightforward rules, and accessible digital reporting systems could help these operators participate in the new circular economy.

Indorama Ventures is already supporting parts of this ecosystem through initiatives including protective equipment, safety training for bottle-bale suppliers, and recycling education for the public.

Turning Waste into Economic Opportunity

Thailand has already demonstrated how regulatory changes can stimulate new markets. The Thai FDA’s approval of food-grade recycled PET (rPET) helped create opportunities for higher-value bottle-to-bottle recycling within the country.

The next frontier extends beyond plastic bottles. Indorama Ventures is also moving into polyester textile recycling through an Asian joint venture with GRN, targeting the difficult problem of multi-material waste generated by the fast-fashion industry.

The broader message is that circularity can become more than an environmental initiative—it can develop into an industrial innovation and investment opportunity.

Circularity as a Climate Solution

Watanabe’s sustainability work also extends across the Asia-Pacific region through his role chairing the UN Circular Economy Task Force for Asia-Pacific under ESCAP.

Through the “APAC Drive to 25” campaign, circular-economy solutions are being positioned as an important part of the region’s climate strategy, with the initiative highlighting their potential to contribute 25% of the carbon-emission reductions required across Asia-Pacific.

This connects recycling and resource efficiency directly with the larger challenge of decarbonization, showing that circularity can contribute meaningfully to climate targets rather than functioning simply as a waste-management strategy.

Government and Business Must Lead

Building a circular economy nevertheless requires patience and capital. Recycling investments can involve long payback periods, making supportive policies and long-term corporate commitment particularly important.

Indorama Ventures views sustainability as a long-term responsibility rather than a short-term initiative, reflecting the multi-generational philosophy established by its founder, Aloke Lohia.

Watanabe’s central argument is that responsibility for achieving circularity cannot rest primarily with consumers. Governments and corporations have the strongest ability to create systemic change through regulation, infrastructure investment, technological innovation, and scalable recycling systems.

A well-designed and enforceable Extended Producer Responsibility framework could therefore deliver benefits far beyond waste reduction. It could help Thailand attract green investment, support economic expansion, strengthen tourism, and reinforce its position as a sustainability leader within ASEAN.

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Source: kaohooninternational