SPECIAL REPORT: Alarm raised as Thailand drowns in plastic trash

[rooster59]

SPECIAL REPORT: Alarm raised as Thailand drowns in plastic trash

By PIYAPORN WONGRUANG 
THE SUNDAY NATION 

 

Photo credit: Sirachai Arunrugstichai/Greenpeace

 

IN FEBRUARY LAST YEAR, a patch of plastic trash almost 10 kilometres long was seen floating off the coast of the Gulf of Thailand in Chumpon province, prompting a wake-up call about the plastic pollution problem which has become increasingly serious in recent years.

 

Tara Buakamsri, Thailand country director for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, which campaigns against pollution, has observed the phenomenon with concern. It’s the tip of the iceberg, Tara said, referring to the plastic trash problem.

 

“The plastic problem is actually serious, just like other global environmental problems. But we did not see it, as it did not appear to our eyes – not until recent years,” said Tara.

 

He cited new scientific evidence showing the health impact of plastic as well as ever-growing patches of plastic trash floating in the oceans worldwide, including the one which appeared off Chumpon’s coast last year.

 

 

A problem getting out of control

 

The plastic trash problem had reached its tipping point when the Earth Day Network this year decided to kick off a long-term campaign on the problem to commemorate 2018 Earth Day on February 22. They hoped that the focus on plastic would be a wake-up call for the world’s citizens to realise the situation and do what they could to help solve it. 

 

Since plastic was first introduced in the 1950s, the network claims some 8.3 billion tonnes have been produced to date. However, almost 91 per cent of waste plastic had not been recycled, leaving a great deal of the long-lasting material piling up in both land and ocean environments.

 

The network estimates that around 8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in oceans each year.

 

A great plastic patch has reportedly accumulated in the Pacific Ocean, where the North Pacific Gyre has swirled and swooped it, but the fact that has shocked the environmentalists here, including Tara, is that Thailand is among the world’s worst.

 

It is the sixth worst offender for dumping plastics into the sea, according to the 2015 Stemming the Tide report by the Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Centre for Business and Environment. 

 

As noted by Thailand’s Pollution Control Department (PCD), plastic waste in the country continues to increase, and at the annual rate of 12 per cent, or around 2 million tonnes.

 

Only 0.5 million tonnes of this waste can be reused, while the remaining 1.5 million tonnes, 80 per cent of which are single-use plastic bags, accumulate in official dumping sites or elsewhere.

 

“Although plastic is durable, its use is short-lived. So, it’s increasingly dumped along with wet garbage and has accumulated in the environment, where it lasts for years as it cannot be biodegraded,” the PCD noted in its five-year integrated plastic waste management plan draft for 2017-21.

 

Plastic impacts

 

Tara can cite even more reasons to be concerned about plastic waste.

 

As learned from new scientific studies, Tara said that petroleum-based plastic could have impacts on both human and animal health. They can release carcinogens, and while breaking down in the oceans become microplastics which are able to enter the food chain. 

 

In his blog, Tara cited last year’s report by the Marine and Coastal Resources Department, which noted that at least 300 sea animals on average died from consuming plastic-based fishing gear and trash each year, 60 per cent of which are whales and dolphins. 

 

The other study, “The Effects of Microplastics on Sessile Invertebrates on the Eastern Coast of Thailand”, published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin in November last year, also showed how microplastics have affected marine animals on the eastern coast. The study has found that some molluscs in the area have been contaminated by microplastics beyond the standard.

 

End of plastic pollution

 

The PCD noted that management of plastic waste has a problem at every stage – from production to consumption to getting rid of it.

 

The various types of plastics produced by the industry are not yet addressed by law, and neither is their labelling, which causes difficulties in sorting them out for reuse and recycling. In addition, plastic is still wastefully used during the production process. Research and development to substitute plastics is not yet in place.

 

Furthermore, when plastic is released into the market, consumers often use it wastefully, most critically with single-use plastic bags.

 

There has so far been only a voluntary approach to regulating the use of plastic for consumption, the PCD noted.

 

Consumers, it added, lacked awareness about plastic waste and barely sorted their garbage before dumping.

 

When it is dumped, there is no systematic management of plastic waste in place, and often, it’s mixed with wet garbage, contaminating the environment for years to come, as it does not biodegrade.

 

The government has, to some degree, realised the situation, leading to the 2016-21 wet-garbage management master plan, along with a plastic trash management draft developed by the PCD. That plan is also in line with the draft 3Rs strategy – reduce, reuse, recycle – for wet garbage. The prime goal is reducing plastic waste, while reusing it up to 60 per cent by 2021.

 

Fast moving consumer goods versus circular economy

 

For Tara, the goal set in the drafts is not yet sufficiently clear to lead to concrete action among all concerned. The goal of cutting plastic waste remains vague, he said, thus lacking the force needed to get the concerned parties to take responsive action.

 

Plastic waste, he said, actually has something to do with the way people consume and the way plastic is produced.

 

As long as people still lead the so-called fast-moving consumer goods lifestyle, under which goods are produced and consumed quickly, plastic will continue to be wastefully produced and consumed. Tara questioned such a lifestyle and the economy behind it.

 

He said that globally there is a trend being explored, under a new circular economy where zero waste is set as a prime goal from the start. 

Policymakers should try embracing the philosophy so that plastic and waste could be managed right from the start. 

 

It is possible, he noted, citing a trend being adopted by some groups of environmentally minded people, whose force he hoped will accumulate and reach a “critical mass” that could help drive policy changes.

 

“By putting forward the right question in the first place, we will be able to tackle the problem right from the start, and our action will encourage more new thinking and innovations. What you need at the very first is the right question,” said Tara.

 

Box: Reduce, reuse, recycle approach needed

 

AS A NOTED marine ecologist, Thon Thamrong-nawasawat is particularly worried about the plastic patch problem in the oceans.

 

Thon said plastic waste is a global issue, as is climate change, and is in fact globally critical, particularly where plastic in the seas is concerned.

 

If left unattended, it is predicted that plastic waste would increase to over 10 billion tonnes, requiring a load of management.

 

Thailand, he said, has become the sixth among countries worldwide for dumping plastic into the seas, most of it single-use plastic. And the Mekong River, he added, is ranked among the top 10 rivers polluted by plastic and a major source of plastic waste flooding into the seas, according to Germany’s Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research.

 

The trend worldwide is to try to reduce plastic from single usage, and Thailand – under the 20-year strategy – will also focus on the three prime actions of reducing, reusing and recycling plastic waste, Thon noted.

 

However, he also hopes to see the problem being tackled at the source, which is production and consumption.

 

“We also want to see responsibility being placed on users and producers – it’s the most effective way to deal with the problem,” said Thon, who is a member of the national strategy committee on sustainable growth and environmental sustainability.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30344702

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-05-06

[Samui Bodoh]

When I go to my local market, I have a plastic bag or two in my pocket.

 

The market ladies all know me and often point at me, telling their friends that "there is the Farang who brings his own bags!". I even get small discounts on occasion as the ladies say "you save me money".

 

Until my pulling a plastic bag out of my pocket or people bringing a cloth bag daily becomes the norm, Thailand (and not just Thailand) will continue to drown in an ugly sea of waste.

 

This problem will be around for a while as people's habits don't change quickly, but re-using a plastic bag several times is easy to do and will have a huge and immediate effect on the environment.

 

The problem is, as always, with people.

 

 

Edited May 5, 2018 by Samui Bodoh
Lack of coffee

[Thailand]

This is just another of those rinse and repeat stories.

Been going on for years not likely to change until attitudes change or charges are made on plastic bags etc.

[YetAnother]

9 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

As long as people still lead the so-called fast-moving consumer goods lifestyle, under which goods are produced and consumed quickly, plastic will continue to be wastefully produced and consumed.

is water pollution a problem ? sure, yet i believe thais will have about as much success dealing with it ,involving something called Planning, as they have had dealing with air pollution

[Lungstib]

I stood behind a woman yesterday who bought bottles of water. 6 plastic bottles, covered in thick plastic shrink wrap, placed inside 2 carrier bags, which she didn't carry but strapped on a m'bike. With 12 bottles of water, bread double plastic wrapped and a few other items she needed an environmental warning as she drove away up the road. It's a lifestyle that will be hard to change.

[mok199]

.plastic bags from the convenience stores, but even worse is the street food vendors and their foam bowls and plastic bags...sadly this is how thais eat and think,and it will never improve in this lawless ,shamless, complacent,country...

Edited May 6, 2018 by mok199
speliings

[kannot]

Very simple, 90% of Thais dont give a (insert expletive of choice here) drive round by me and watch all and every piece of crap fly out of the car windows and off motorbikes. They buy a drink with ice  and drink it on the bike and when finished.........off the back, young kids learn easy too.

Go to the beach on a Sunday watch them all sitting under a tree, mass of  bottles and bags styrofoam, come back in the evening and there it all sits mounting up, blowing round in the breeze, feeelthy dirty LAZY PIGS.

[Oziex1]

This is global problem not just a Thai problem.

[Cadbury]

34 minutes ago, Oziex1 said:

This is global problem not just a Thai problem.

You are quite correct. But it doesn't take away the fact that Thailand is the sixth worst country for plastic pollution, globally speaking. At least it is an improvement on the previous year when it was fifth worst.

But China is by far the worst; nearly nine times that of Thailand.

Indonesia is second, then the Philippines followed by Vietnam and Sri Lanka. The United States comes in at 13th.

So in reality Asia is mainly the problem. Or as Samui Bodoh correctly points out,  the people of Asia. 

https://www.statista.com/chart/12211/the-countries-polluting-the-oceans-the-most/

Photo of floating rubbish in the sea off Chumporn in the south of Thailand.

 

Edited May 6, 2018 by Cadbury

[lovelomsak]

Back in the late 60's I was on Ellesmere Island  in the high arctic and scientists from England came to where I was. One of them told me that England was on its way to being covered in plastic. She stated that people do not comprehend plastic is not bio degradeable Once it is there it is there for ever.Now the world is being covered in plastic. But hey we need plastic phones,cars half plastic,toys,furniture,computers etc all plastic. Plastic is cheap to produce things with. Until we find a cheaper way to produce crap will be made with plastic.. Plastic is the curse of consumer  societies.

[Aj Mick]

50 minutes ago, Oziex1 said:

This is global problem not just a Thai problem.

True, but think global, act local.

 

Thailand can do little to improve the situation globally, but something can be done within its borders. Compared to other places I have been, Thailand has a greater plastic bag problem than many other countries. There is much that could be done to improve attitudes and reduce plastic bag use within the country. 

 

It could start with staff at shops asking if a customer wants a bag......

 

It can start with you saying, "No thanks".

 

I do take a cloth bag when shopping, which supermarket cashiers often find a bit odd (it should be the norm). Sometimes they even go looking for a bar-code to charge me for my obviously used bag. When I say that I don't want a bag for my newspaper or convenience store purchase, too often it seems to cause offence to staff, who seem to regard bagging up as an essential part of their job.

 

If they didn't go bagging everything they would get done with each customer more quickly, thus reducing queues.

 

Refusing a bag has not always worked...... A popular independent menswear shop in my home country, where I have been a customer for nearly fifty years still uses paper bags. I said I didn't want one once..... "No, you have to have the bag," Karam insisted. "If you don't, they might pick you up".

 

They being the police, who might nab someone for shoplifting if obviously new goods are not properly wrapped!

Edited May 6, 2018 by Aj Mick

[Anak Nakal]

Put plastic bag in pocket.

Use it. Use it again. Use it again. Use it again.

Simple!

[DoctorG]

24 minutes ago, Aj Mick said:

Refusing a bag has not always worked...... A popular independent menswear shop in my home country, where I have been a customer for nearly fifty years still uses paper bags. I said I didn't want one once..... "No, you have to have the bag," Karam insisted. "If you don't, they might pick you up".

 

They being the police, who might nab someone for shoplifting if obviously new goods are not properly wrapped!

This is why I always get the receipt (so I can decline the bag).

[Borzandy]

There is no doubt Thailand is evolving.

[anon467367354]

make your plastic out of hemp oil and they instantly become biodegradable and a huge percentage of the problem solved. Why the need to use toxic petroleum products I'll never know. Maybe they should train the staff not to use too many bags at supermarkets. I bought a liter of whipping cream, two packages of cheese and a bottle of wine. Wine in one bag, cheese in another, and the whipping cream in a third. Needless to say I put it all in one bag and left the two on the counter probably to be thrown away as they were "used". Really hard to change the clueless.

[KiwiKiwi]

2 hours ago, Thailand said:

This is just another of those rinse and repeat stories.

Been going on for years not likely to change until attitudes change or charges are made on plastic bags etc.

 

 

You're right. Thailand has just discovered the platic pollution problem. As with all things Thai, it's a day late and a dollar short. The horse has already bolted.

 

Now it's the job of an incompetent Thai government to resolve the issue.

 

Should be worth another good laugh.

 

Edited May 6, 2018 by KiwiKiwi

[Nickymaster]

This can only be taken care of at government level. Prohibit 7/11, Big C , Tesco etc etc from giving out plastic bags and things will at least improve. BUT the big rich bosses from those supermarket chains DON'T care what happens to the environment because they only care about PROFIT. And the government seems to be controlled by the elite and the consumer doesn't care. Soooo, what are we worrying about?!

 

 

Edited May 6, 2018 by Nickymaster

[DavidB4]

3 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

When I go to my local market, I have a plastic bag or two in my pocket.

 

The market ladies all know me and often point at me, telling their friends that "there is the Farang who brings his own bags!". I even get small discounts on occasion as the ladies say "you save me money".

 

Until my pulling a plastic bag out of my pocket or people bringing a cloth bag daily becomes the norm, Thailand (and not just Thailand) will continue to drown in an ugly sea of waste.

 

This problem will be around for a while as people's habits don't change quickly, but re-using a plastic bag several times is easy to do and will have a huge and immediate effect on the environment.

 

The problem is, as always, with people.

 

 

I bring my own plastic containers for street food. I've never seen another person do it which is why I think we're doomed....seriously. When I walk on the klong I see the floating trash dump go by...on and on, the people here don't care - just plain lazy. This subject is too often grouped with global warming which muddies the waters. But ask Trump about this problem...."it's just Fake News".

[tukkytuktuk]

 

[ChaoDangChard]

This is a huge problem for Thailand. And the problem stems from the fact that no one is teaching people that its wrong to throw trash on the roadside, everybody does it everyday. Nobody is telling the fishermen not to throw there trash overboard. And worst of all there is no enforcement what so ever. Its a disgrace.

[KiwiKiwi]

16 minutes ago, DavidB4 said:

I bring my own plastic containers for street food. I've never seen another person do it which is why I think we're doomed....seriously. When I walk on the klong I see the floating trash dump go by...on and on, the people here don't care - just plain lazy. This subject is too often grouped with global warming which muddies the waters. But ask Trump about this problem...."it's just Fake News".

I followed a pickup and (was obliged to follow) a couple of Kubota's when leaving our village yesterday. All vehicles were overloaded with people but at 20kph there was probably no real danger. To watch the kids and adults just throw litter and waste over the side really rankled, though of course, Thais never make mistakes so there's no point in a foreigner or anyone else trying to educate them.

 

They are a primitive people with a primitive culture. The people behave as though they just climbed down from the trees 20 years ago and are still coming to terms with living on the ground.

 

Seriously, God (if there is a God) just doesn't live here, and just a few years being here is usually enough to understand just how backward these people are. Face is everything, even their hunger for money is just another face thing. They behave a lot like my dog - always on autopilot, only ever responding to naturally-arising emotions rather than thought. The three most important impulses in their lives are to eat, to defecate, and to mate and the face thing is 100% about doing more of the last of those things.

 

It's seems just hopeless sometimes - like pushing poop uphill with a pointy stick. And then along comes the Prayuth/Prawit song and dance clown show to put the finishing touches to the uniquely Thai catastrophe.

 

Edited May 6, 2018 by KiwiKiwi

[Misterwhisper]

I have bought myself years ago one of these traditional stacked-compartment "pinto" food containers, which I always carry around to the "gap khao" shop for take-away food. It caused quite some stir and lots of laughter from the sales ladies when I turned up the first time and insisted all my food be filled in the "pinto" compartments instead of plastic bags. 

 

In the meantime they've got used to it and we have even established a well-oiled procedure where I hand each of the compartments to one of the ladies in turn, who then fills it with the food I've selected, then gives it back to me while I re-assemble the "pinto". It always happens under the curious, sometimes amused, glares of other customers - all of whom accept their food in those tied-off plastic bags, of course.

 

To this day I remain a "curiosity" and obviously haven't been able to teach by good example. Not even any of the the regulars has followed my lead, by bringing their own "pinto". They all still prefer their food in plastic bags, which they simply can throw away instead of having to wash and dry the "pinto".

 

I think that indifference to adopting a new attitude describes the root problem very vividly. People simply are not willing to give up a tiny bit of personal convenience and "sabai sabai"; not for something as abstract as "environmental awareness" anyway. And that is why they rather have a plastic spoon with every single cup of yogurt they buy. It's so much easier to dump the spoon together with the empty yogurt cup than to actually "burden" oneself with the strenuous action of holding a used metal spoon under the tap and wiping it dry.  

Edited May 6, 2018 by Misterwhisper

[KiwiKiwi]

9 minutes ago, Misterwhisper said:

I have bought myself years ago one of these traditional stacked-compartment "pinto" food containers, which I always carry around to the "gap khao" shop for take-away food. It caused quite some stir and lots of laughter from the sales ladies when I turned up the first time and insisted all my food be filled in the "pinto" compartments instead of plastic bags. 

 

In the meantime they've got used to it and we have even established a well-oiled procedure where I hand each of the compartments to one of the ladies in turn, who then fills it with the food I've selected, then gives it back to me while I re-assemble the "pinto". It always happens under the curious, sometimes amused, glares of other customers - all of whom accept their food in those tied-off plastic bags, of course.

 

To this day I remain a "curiosity" and obviously haven't been able to teach by good example. Not even any of the the regulars has followed my lead, by bringing their own "pinto". They all still prefer their food in plastic bags, which they simply can throw away instead of having to wash and dry the "pinto".

 

I think that indifference to adopting a new attitude describes the root problem very vividly. People simply are not willing to give up a tiny bit of personal convenience and "sabai sabai"; not for something as abstract as "environmental awareness" anyway. And that is why they rather have a plastic spoon with every single cup of yogurt they buy. It's so much easier to dump the spoon together with the empty yogurt cup than to actually "burden" oneself with the strenuous action of holding a used metal spoon under the tap and wiping it dry.  

 

 

Yes, well, as far as I'm concerned, I tip my hat to you, a sensible solution to a crushing problem. Good on yer.

 

Not that Thais will learn from it unless they see another Thai doing it.

 

"It's so much easier to dump the spoon together with the empty yogurt cup than to actually "burden" oneself with the strenuous action of holding a used metal spoon under the tap and wiping it dry. "

 

It isn't so much that it's easier, it's that it requires less thought. Thais aren't very good at thinking. Auto-pilot is good.

 

 

Edited May 6, 2018 by KiwiKiwi

[hansnl]

3 hours ago, Thailand said:

This is just another of those rinse and repeat stories.

Been going on for years not likely to change until attitudes change or charges are made on plastic bags etc.

I was told, don't know if it is true, there are plastic bags available that are biodegradable.

If that is so, why not use those?

[quandow]

Would someone please explain to the author that those cans are made from aluminium?

[Tradewind777]

In NZ there is an initiative to recycle plastic. Councils are conscripted to buy recycled plastic products and commercial competition is now appearing. This involves innovation, planning and incentivisation of which there is a paucity in the LoS unfortunately.

[RichardColeman]

I presume lots of us watch Sky news. Rerunning story on there about Thailand now importing Chinese plastic rubbish !!! 

 

1 hour ago, Cadbury said:

But China is by far the worst; nearly nine times that of Thailand.

 

[connda]

"The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, ’cause that’s what it does. It’s a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed, and if it’s true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new pardigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn’t share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn’t know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, “Why are we here?” Plastic........"

-- George Carlin

[wicketkeeper]

Need a sponsor, a T-shirt maker and a distributor.

It says "I don't want a plastic bag".

Edited May 6, 2018 by wicketkeeper

[tukkytuktuk]

21 minutes ago, ChaoDangChard said:

This is a huge problem for Thailand. And the problem stems from the fact that no one is teaching people that its wrong to throw trash on the roadside, everybody does it everyday. Nobody is telling the fishermen not to throw there trash overboard. And worst of all there is no enforcement what so ever. Its a disgrace.