A Vietnamese mangrove draped with polythene, a whale killed after swallowing waste bags in Thai seas and clouds of underwater trash near Indonesian “paradise” islands – grim images of the plastic crisis that has gripped Southeast Asia. Hundreds of turtles, dolphins and whales become stranded every year on Thailand’s beaches after plastic impedes their mobility or clogs their insides. Some are lifeless on arrival, biologists say, and their deaths barely register with the public. More than half of the world’s plastic waste comes from five Asian countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, according to a 2015 Ocean Conservancy report. They are among the fastest growing economies in Asia, where much of the world’s plastic is produced, consumed and discarded- most of it improperly in countries where waste management is at best patchy.