* Middle East conflict snarls supplies of plastic

feedstock

* Asia is home to the world's biggest plastic users and

polluters

* Crisis benefits South Korean, Taiwan makers of

alternatives

* Price hikes coming, say Japanese makers of plastic

wrap, bags

By Minwoo Park, Kaori Kaneko and John Geddie

SEOUL/TOKYO, April 15 (Reuters) - An 'eco-friendly'

range of paper tubes and pouches touted by Yonwoo, a South

Korean maker of packaging for cosmetics, has reaped unexpected

benefit from the Iran war, which has disrupted supplies of the

plastic needed to turn out 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 says it has

fuelled inquiries three-fold 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 Kim Min-sang, a senior

manager at parent 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% of the

plastic employed by conventional packaging, Kim told Reuters.

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 a short-term flip.

MORE UNCERTAINTY AHEAD

Asia is not only heavily reliant on feedstock imported from

the Middle East, but it is hooked on plastic, with China, Japan,

South Korea and Southeast Asia together using almost a third of

the world's total by 2022, OECD data showed, up 900% since 1990.

The region also accounts for more than a third of all

plastic waste leaking into the environment, thanks to poor waste

collection methods in low-income Southeast Asian nations.

Japan ranks behind only the United States 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 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 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, have said they will raise prices by about

30% in 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 last year after the United States and plastic-producing

countries pushed back against a drive to cap plastic production

led by the European Union.

It is one of several environmental initiatives to lose steam

under U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called climate change

a hoax.

Trump's sweeping trade tariffs were also 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 Trump imposed the

levies on U.S. imports last year, he said.

Now, as prices of plastic rise, several of his U.S. 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," he 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 the

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% and 20% from the usual 1 million

units as it hunts for new suppliers.

The 20-year-old factory is now warning clients of a wait of

up to eight weeks for orders to be filled, and expects revenue

to suffer accordingly, said sales team manager Han Kyung-hun.

"I hope things return to normal as soon as possible," said

Han, but cautioned recovery could take a couple of months, even

if the war ended immediately.