RECYCLING

Consumers are often hesitant to purchase recycled products, mainly because they might be of poor quality. To make recycled products more marketable, common standards are critically needed to ensure that the industry produces only quality products and to persuade consumers to buy them. Common standards can reduce transaction costs because they guarantee the quality of recycled products (Kojima and Atienza, 2010).   Common standards can be developed by national governments or industry associations and can be either mandatory or voluntary. Some countries enhance their export–import standards through, for example, measures such as bans and prior consent to prevent unmanaged

The recycling rate is the total waste recycled from the total waste generated. Recycled waste includes the export and import of waste intended for recycling (UNEP, 2019). Table 1 lists the recycling rates of municipal solid waste in member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Excluding Singapore, most of the countries have less than 50% recycling rates because landfills, open dumps, and open burning are amongst the predominant forms of waste treatment in these countries. Table 1. Recycling Rates of Municipal Solid Waste in ASEAN Countries Source: UNEP (2017). The recycling rate is