Iran war promises green edge for Asia as plastic packaging runs short
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Workers preparing to ship bags of plastic pellets in Zhangmutou town, also known as “Plastic City”, in Guangdong, China.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SEOUL/TOKYO – An “eco-friendly” range of paper tubes and pouches touted by Yonwoo, a South Korean maker of packaging for cosmetics, has reaped unexpected benefits from the Iran war, which has disrupted supplies of the plastic needed to produce single-use wrapping.
While the conflict has sent prices of plastic soaring to roughly four-year highs by choking off flows of the required raw materials of oil and petrochemicals, the company said inquiries have gone up threefold for paper-based options.
“Interest initially came from companies focused on sustainability... but if the plastics issue gets prolonged, we expect demand to further increase,” said Mr Kim Min-sang, a senior manager at parent firm Kolmar Korea.
The supplier to major firms, such as France’s L’Oreal, 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, said Mr Kim.
Across Asia, home to some of the world’s biggest plastic users and polluters, changes that environmental groups have sought for decades are quickly being adopted, even if they may prove to be a short-term flip.
More uncertainty ahead
Asia is not only heavily reliant on feedstock imported from the Middle East but it is also hooked on plastic, with China, Japan, South Korea and South-east Asia together using almost a third of the world’s total by 2022, up 900 per cent since 1990, data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development shows.
The region accounts for more than a third of all plastic waste leaking into the environment, thanks to poor waste collection methods in low-income South-east 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 Mr 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 Mr 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 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 for a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution stalled in 2025 after the US and plastic-producing countries pushed back against a drive led by the EU 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.
His sweeping trade tariffs were a blow for Taiwan’s Lastic, which makes bamboo-based biodegradable material, said senior development manager Luke Anderson.
American airlines eyeing the material to replace disposable plastic cups and cutlery lost interest after Mr Trump imposed tariffs on US imports in 2025, he said.
As prices of plastic rise, several of Lastic’s 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,” Mr Anderson said.
Some companies are adapting to new alternatives.
In Malaysia, dairy producer Farm Fresh said it has temporarily switched to paper-based milk cartons because of plastic supply disruptions.
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 one million units as it hunts for new suppliers.
The 20-year-old factory is warning clients of a wait of up to eight weeks for orders to be fulfilled and expects revenue to suffer, said sales team manager Han Kyung-hun.
“I hope things return to normal as soon as possible,” he said, but cautioned that recovery could take a couple of months even if the war ends immediately. REUTERS
