Southeast Asian countries need tougher plastic policies to curb pollution - U.N.

FILE PHOTO: A rubber duck toy is pictured in a vast carpet of plastic trash on a seashore on Freedom Island, Paranaque City, Metro Manila, Philippines, July 15, 2019. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez/File Photo

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Southeast Asian countries, among the world's worst ocean polluters, need tougher regulations for plastic packaging to curb leakage, a United Nations report said on Wednesday.

Southeast Asia is a major contributor to land-based plastic waste leaking into the world's oceans, with more than half of it coming from four nations - Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand - along with China, the top single polluter.