That's because we've just topped a list that we shouldn't be proud of.
The The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has named Malaysians as the biggest individual consumers of plastic packaging in Asia.
Yikes!
Wealthiest in the region
According to a report by Reuters, Malaysia ranked highest among six countries including China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam in an analysis of Asia's worst ocean polluters.
According to the study, the annual per-capita plastic packaging consumption of a Malaysian is at about 16.8kg per person.
WWF's coordinator of work on a plastic circular economy, Thomas Schuldt, told the news agency that Malaysians consumed the most plastic because they were among the wealthiest in the region.
"There is lots of food delivery, which is plastic packaging-heavy - but in addition, there are also a lot of day-to-day products bought in supermarkets," he said, adding that Malaysia and other Asian governments should introduce regulation to limit single-use plastics.
WWF’s report on plastics focused on household consumption of plastic packaging, and it found that a shocking 27 million tonnes were consumed across all six nations in 2016.
The report also noted that from 2010 to 2050, the volume of plastic that ends up in the ocean would quadruple and far outweigh fishes in the ocean.
That sounds really serious! Perhaps, we can make it a habit of reducing the use of plastic at home.