SPECIAL REPORT: Alarm raised as Thailand drowns in plastic trash

[johng]

@johnny49r
I agree with most of what you said..but not all Thais litter a very large majority do though sadly.

[Expatthailover]

Air pollution is responsible for the premature deaths of 40000 people in the uk pa.

But hey the uk is perfect I hear.

Pollution in all its forms is shocking.

I realise many ( not all ) on here delight in pointing the finger and denigrating thailand and thai people at every available opportunity but as in many instances..let he who is without sin etc etc. People in the west want cheap goods from developing countries and dont give a monkeys about environmental impact ..its not in their backyard.

Unfortunately with the  election of don the doofus the cause of environmental salvation has been set back half a century

Edited May 6, 2018 by Expatthailover

[natway09]

Don't you just love the headline........... the alarm was raised worldwide elsewhere in the world

about 10 years ago

[coulson]

13 hours ago, rooster59 said:

 

“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

How on earth did she land this job.

 

You would need to be blindfolded and locked in a basement to not notice this was a problem for a long time already.

 

What a <deleted>.

 

Carry on.....

[OmarZaid]

except for professional use, if it can't be recycled, it must be banned

[fantom]

Some months ago I reported that in the estuary about 20 km SE of Chantabury, much of the sea is covered in acre upon acre of floating plastic used water bottles. They are used to suspend the substrate that is used to grow oysters.

The plastic over time degrades into smaller and smaller particles so of course the oysters live in a gently falling rain of micro plastic.

Some would say these bottles are being 'recycled' but in reality the plastic is just being redistributed as eventually every bottle ends up in on the sea floor.

 

For those who love to blame the Thais for everything, in Big C the other day, I stood next to a farang with a trolly full of plastic bag filled shopping who insisted his purchase of a bag of plastic rubbish bags be placed in a plastic bag.

Mrs Fantom and I have never had any problem using our own large cloth shopping bags in super or other markets, always refuse plastic bags, and are always met with smiles and cooperation at the checkout. Not a problem.

[DUNROAMIN]

All shops and supermarkets should follow Aldi's and Makro's bag policy, bring your own, simple. People will bitch for awhile, however if every shopping outlet is the same, people will get used to it.

[wvavin]

Who cares? Nobody bothers in this country at all. 

[HHTel]

5 hours ago, Cadbury said:

For your benefit I did NOT create the statistics. I quoted the source of the statistics in my original post. Did you bother to read the source?

They are talking about metric tonnes per country regardless of population.

Rather than having a poke at me for a bit of fun I suggest you complaint to the originator of the statistical information as per the link and inform them that China has 20 times the population of Thailand. It seems they are unaware of that fact. 

I repeat the link again especially for you so that you can get in touch with them and enlighten them by providing them the statistics based on population. And I really couldn't care less as to what you think I might be surprised at. https://www.statista.com/chart/12211/the-countries-polluting-the-oceans-the-most/

My goodness!  I was pointing out a flaw in the stats (from your source).  It's what a debate is about.  In no way was it a poke at you!  Someone understood as my post got a 'like' and a 'thanks', and your post got a 'haha'.  The post was not about what I think but a look at a different statistic, well documented in other reports.

Let's debate like adults shall we?

[DJ54]

If we all try to improve the situation by limiting use of plastic bags maybe it will catch on. It’s a bit crazy you can go to a store and they 

use plastic bags for everything. 1 item 1 plastic bag. 12 pack of water that’s plastic wrapped putting it in bag? Even Mom and Pop shop across the road tries to give plastic bags for everything..... I motion 

to them I’ve got big enough hands to carry a few things. The caught on and don’t offer anymore. 

 

Sorry for the long email but everyone can help a little 

[dinsdale]

13 hours ago, Oziex1 said:

This is global problem not just a Thai problem.

Yes it is. I wonder if plastic from Thailand ends up in Australia?

[Shaunduhpostman]

Plastic has always been a problem, yet because the oil industry and the plastics industry has to expand profits there will only ever be more plastic than ever. To say people have to cut back or recycle is absurd, they can't allow that, they won't make as much money. One use throw away is the way to go for the oil and plastics people. And the corporations have such a stranglehold on government policies, the media etc lots of luck if you want to change any of it. Plastic pollution is just another symptom of the untenability of rampant out of control capitalism, the intelligence agency-finance-oil run one world government that has to mind control people with mobile devices and false flags to continue ramming this stuff down people's throats.

 

Back in the 70's plastic was a problem yet what did they do? Introduce plastic bags at supermarkets. In the US paper bags were the only kind of bags, but plastics were introduced and said to be better because we don't have to cut down trees to make plastic bags which is non-sense, there are many ways to make paper bags without chopping down the Amazon. In more recent times the obsession is with marketing and you have to sell cups of coffee with sexy plastic domes over the top. Digestable plastic is in food, you can't buy beverages anymore in glass containers, people fill their bodies with plastic fillers so that they look better etc it all goes to show you there will only ever be more and more ways that plastic is insinuated into our lives until someone stops making money off of it. And along with any plastic produced is the eventual plastic waste.

[daiwill]

I think fact #5 needs reviewing. only  2 million bags world wide everyday, Really ????  At least that many in 7/11 across Thailand alone, probably!!

[observer90210]

bio degradable recyclable bags that look just like plastic is the future....now it up to the large scale retailers to do their duty....

[farcanell]

15 hours ago, gr8fldanielle said:

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.

Lol... is that true about the hemp oil???

 

i can imagine “a friend” going down the road, purchasing whipping cream, tasty cheese and wine... then coming home to smoke the bag whilst chowing down on those goodies ?

[farcanell]

18 hours ago, rooster59 said:

.... prompting a wake-up call....

Mmmm... then they went back to sleep 

[bandito]

19 hours ago, Aj Mick said:

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!

 

Yesterday I got bowled over and stood there agape.

Bought a belt in the Tesco-Lotus upstairs in the town where I live in Thailand and got it duly packed in a PAPER bag.

Went downstairs and bought a roll of magic tape.

After paying for it the cashier said "you already have a bag,put it in there".

I just stood there and then even my Thai wife chimed in telling me to put it in the bag.

I'm still in shock.

New policy Tesco-Lotus.??

[hotchilli]

Thailand has a love affair with plastic bags and containers of various kinds.

From the companies that package everything to the street vendors who sell everything served in plastic of some description!!

It will never end here because most are too lazy to come up with an alternative!!

[spidermike007]

A change in consciousness must start at the most basic level. Most Thais think plastic is the best thing ever invented, and the percentage of Thais that even consider the negative ramifications of plastic is incredibly small. This requires some education. I always do two things to avoid the consumption of plastic.

 

1. I bring re-usable bags with me every time I go shopping. I use the larger shopping bags I buy in the US, which are made of recycled materials. Most of the clerks have to be dealt with. Even when they see my bag, they still start putting the stuff in plastic. I always mai sai toom. No plastic! Then they start loading up my bag. Most look at me like I am from Mars. Do I care? Not one iota. About 1% thank me, and get it. Not many do. My Thai wife does not like bringing the bags to the store. I force her to. By now, she expects it, and sometimes even asks if I have any bags in the car, or on the motorbike. Same with the water bottles. It used to embarrass her. Now, it is second nature, as I have been doing this for so long, she expects it. So, if a Thai can be conditioned to follow these simple principals, then anyone can. 

 

2. I bring a bottle of water with me, every time I go to a restaurant. I refill my plastic bottles from the 20 liter bottles at home. It is easy. I never buy bottled water at a restaurant. This saves 300-600 bottles a year. I use a plastic bottle dozens of times. I never get any flack from the restaurants. Only once did someone say something to me. She said you cannot bring you own water. My response was if you serve the water in a glass bottle, and I do not have to consume a plastic bottle, I am happy to pay for that. She was lost. I told her to leave and get me my food. She went away. 

 

We simply cannot say we are concerned about the environment, and then do nothing about it. Action demonstrates commitment. Lack of action demonstrates nothing. 

 

Lastly, restaurants can demonstrate their commitment, by serving drinking water from the 20 liter bottles. It saves alot of plastic. They lose a small amount of revenue, by not selling thousands of bottles of water. But, their operation is still profitable, and they are making a real difference. 

 

[BobBKK]

Every bag I recently received in Philippines 7/11 was BIO-DEGRADABLE and stamped on the front. Why can't Thailand do that?

Edited May 7, 2018 by BobBKK

[lvr181]

7 hours ago, Shaunduhpostman said:

Plastic pollution is just another symptom of the untenability of rampant out of control capitalism,

Show me a modern non capitalistic country that has no problem with plastic polution.

I would venture to say that there are probably not so modern countries who still have the plastic pollution problem.

 

 

[lvr181]

29 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

Every bag I recently received in Philippines 7/11 was BIO-DEGRADABLE and stamped on the front. Why can't Thailand do that?

Unfortunately, Thailand seems reluctant to learn from others! They just want to re-invent the wheel (if they can ever get around to it)! 

[fantom]

28 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

Every bag I recently received in Philippines 7/11 was BIO-DEGRADABLE and stamped on the front. Why can't Thailand do that?

It seems this is a highly controversial 'solution' and is probably 'greenwashing.'

A brief search on google using the search term:

 

biodegradable bags, how do they degrade

 

Is illuminating.

[Radar501]

I was on a train heading south towards the Malay border, and sitting in a compartment with a Thai mum and her three kids.   During the trip, plastic bags and food wrappings were being tossed nonchalantly out the window by the family.

 

After witnessing the littering several times, I asked the woman to give me whatever other rubbish she had accumulated and I stashed it in a bag I had beside me, to dispose of properly later on.

 

I could see the woman was brooding about my interjection, and she appeared embarrassed about this upstart farang minding her business.   About thirty minutes later when her family had finished their takeaway meals with all the styrofoam containers and plastic spoons etc etc, Mum collected all the rubbish and tossed it out the window again.

 

With a smug look on her face, she said to me "It's okay.  It's only jungle ."    Excellent work.   She had lost face, but was determined to redeem herself.   

 

Plastic pollution is an 'OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND' problem, certainly not restricted to just Thailand.   Only when the issue starts to have an overwhelming impact on the global economy, will governments act.   But I am doubtful that the lazy, selfish and  short-sighted attitudes of the majority of individuals at the local level will ever change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HHTel]

I think Prayut some time ago, when asked why he doesn't issue a directive about the use of plastic bags, answered with "The people wouldn't like it!"

 

Shopkeepers worry that they will lose trade if they don't supply plastic bags.  However, Makro don't supply bags.  You have to take your own bags/boxes and they certainly haven't suffered.  So banning the automatic issue of bags might initially cause some disappointment but people would soon get used to it. 

 

People here won't do it under their own volition so they have to be forced into it.

Edited May 7, 2018 by HHTel
Addition

[Keesters]

On 5/6/2018 at 8:04 AM, Oziex1 said:

This is global problem not just a Thai problem.

But this is a Thai forum and most of us live in Thailand or have close connections to it. Start local, your own plastic usage, your families plastic usage next, then neighbours, followed by your village, town, city, province building up to the whole country that could make a name for itself as a country that cares about pollution and hopefully the rest of the world may take notice. Saying it happens all over does nothing to help and is very defeatist.

 

 

[5633572526]

On 5/6/2018 at 6:25 AM, 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.

 

 

The quickest way to get people to reuse the bags or bring their own cloth bags is to start charging for the plastic bags. In my country (USA) the political mess makes this difficult because it will be portrayed as a tax and be stuck in government for years. Here it can be done with a wave of the magical article 44 wand. Also I am told by my Aussie friends that they charge for bags in Australia but they still don’t reuse them to which my reply is “they are not charging enough” if the cost is high enough people will reuse them.

[Keesters]

Bought a reusable bag from Mr DIY with the slogan "Go Green, saving the world one bag at a time" and a few other items. The till girl wanted to place it all in a plastic bag.

[Keesters]

3 minutes ago, 5633572526 said:

The quickest way to get people to reuse the bags or bring their own cloth bags is to start charging for the plastic bags. In my country (USA) the political mess makes this difficult because it will be portrayed as a tax and be stuck in government for years. Here it can be done with a wave of the magical article 44 wand. Also I am told by my Aussie friends that they charge for bags in Australia but they still don’t reuse them to which my reply is “they are not charging enough” if the cost is high enough people will reuse them.

You pay for bags at both Macro and Decathlon.

[kcpattaya]

As exercised in most countries in Europe; the solution is simple. Very simple.
Do like MAKRO for example. A plastic bag is not complimentary.
If you want a plastic bag: You need to ask for it and pay for it.
Problem solved.

Now start cleaning.