Ministry aims for zero waste, introduces ban on single-use plastics

[webfact]

Ministry aims for zero waste, introduces ban on single-use plastics

By THE NATION

 

 

In line with the country’s roadmap for waste management and its goal to achieve zero waste by 2030, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation has confirmed that four single-use plastic products, namely foam boxes, plastic bags, straws, and glasses will be totally banned from the ministry and its agencies by 2022.

 

Suvit Maesinee added that the ministry aimed to bring 100-per-cent of plastic waste and packaging into the circular economy system, a concept of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix that focuses on the wise usage of natural resources, waste recycling, and the minimum discharge rate of the waste.

 

“According to our plan based on the BCG Matrix, especially the circular economy, the waste in Thailand will be reduced to 16.5 million tonnes within five years” he said.

 

Last year, the quantity of waste was 27.8 million tonnes. Only one third, or 9.5 million tonnes, was taken for recycling and 7.36 million tonnes was disposed of improperly.

 

In addition, the minister has ordered all agencies under his ministry to stop using the single use plastic products, and said he was planning to increase research and innovation development in accordance with the recycle and upcycle concept, changing waste into valuable products.

 

“To push the concept of Zero Waste Thailand, we need to do two things: change people’s behaviour and develop innovations that will help reuse natural resources and reduce the waste released into the environment,” the minister explained.

 

According to the waste-to-wealth concept of the circular economy, agriculture products and waste from the agriculture industry can be processed as biomaterial, or other highly valuable substances for use in the power generating industry. “Waste is a resource for sustainable energy in local communities,” he added.

 

Zero Waste Thailand is the flagship programme of the ministry’s policy and strategy in 2020 with a preliminary budget allocation of around Bt600 million.

 

Additional funding of Bt2.5 million is being set aside for the BCG project through the Promotion Fund for Science, Research, and Innovation, of National Research Council of Thailand which allows research agencies to present their draft projects for financial support.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30377970

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-11-01

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[scorecard]

Godd now (maybe) my students can't walk out of the classrom and leave empty plastic bags and a few with rubbish on the floor. Or perhaps there will just be more varied rubbish on the floor. 

[RotBenz8888]

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

Zero Waste Thailand,

What will happen to the ecosystem, a shock!

[AhFarangJa]

Looking for non plastic drinking straws for the bar in Makro the other day. After hunting for 10 minutes I asked......Answer.....No Hab. There was however, pallets stacked 2 metres high with every conceivable shape, size, colour, of plastic straws in bags of 500 at a time. 

[z42]

While i admire the vision i don't have much faith in the ability of any Thai agency to adequately educate or change the behaviours of the average Somchai, and turn them into environmentalists.

 

Hope to see real endeavour on this though.

[Lungstib]

Dont tell me, they will also have skills to match the new EEC, travel by high speed trains, drive perfectly and corruption will come to a halt. What year was that?

[Chazar]

26 minutes ago, AhFarangJa said:

Looking for non plastic drinking straws for the bar in Makro the other day. After hunting for 10 minutes I asked......Answer.....No Hab. There was however, pallets stacked 2 metres high with every conceivable shape, size, colour, of plastic straws in bags of 500 at a time. 

got them in the Uk at Mcdonalds,  if you dont get that drink down in less than 2  minutes they disintegrate......................useless

[lopburi3]

45 minutes ago, Chazar said:

got them in the Uk at Mcdonalds,  if you dont get that drink down in less than 2  minutes they disintegrate......................useless

Some of us grew up with paper straws (old I know) but they did do the job (kind of) - but just like paper bags plastic worked a hell of a lot better.  

[trainman34014]

Obviously the 'Road Map' does not include the roads around our way, as every morning when i ride my bike through the Village's there are new plastic bags full of Beer Bottles, Cans, Plastic Bottles and Containers of many kinds and even people's Domestic Rubbish deposited on the Roadside, in the Bushes and among the Tree's.  Even the local park adjacent to a Tambon Office is strewn with garbage even though workers put out hanging rubbish bags.  Shows how much the Parent's and School's teach the Kids about being clean and tidy and generally looking after their own environment. 

 

The only way you will get Thai's to dispose of things properly is offer them money for doing so !

[fforest1]

I cant even begin to imagine how many of the coming new cheap reusable bags will be thrown everywhere littering up the land much worse than the single use plastic bags could ever hope to do...

 

No plastic cups?......Yea right...

[fforest1]

According to our plan based on the BCG Matrix, especially the circular economy,

 

Can we outlaw buzz words along with the plastic bags....

[Thian]

2 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

Looking for non plastic drinking straws for the bar in Makro the other day. After hunting for 10 minutes I asked......Answer.....No Hab. There was however, pallets stacked 2 metres high with every conceivable shape, size, colour, of plastic straws in bags of 500 at a time. 

They use some kind of hollow spaghetti for that..

[Thian]

They can save so much plastic by not using plastic water bottles....we use a waterfilter at home and that works great.

 

But the refill filters are expensive, they can be made much cheaper....

Edited November 1, 2019 by Thian

[toast1]

>Looking for non plastic drinking straws for the bar in Makro the other day. After hunting for 10 minutes I asked......Answer.....No Hab.

 

Non plastic straws are bad for the environment, they use much more oil to make, are more difficult to dispose of and are an environmental threat.

Paper straws are bad for the environment.

 

Such is the trendy nonsense of much environmental mythology.

[mok199]

How do you plan on changing the eating habbits of an entire nation,that eats 3 meals a day served takeout style,in plastic and foam .....

Edited November 1, 2019 by mok199

[jak2002003]

Since they have been on about cutting back on plastic bags here I have seen more plastic than before!

 

In the supermarkets they give out the cardboard boxes.. and customer use their 'bag for life', and what do they put in them?..... food and drink products all covered in plastic!!!

 

There are loads of shops geared up for the (mostly Chinese) tourists, and sections in the supermarkets, full to bursting with dried fruit, sweets etc, all wrapped in really thick, shiny plastic, and inside these big bags each sweet or snack is individually wrapped in its own mini thick plastic bag, and then the bigger bag is often but together with more bigger bags, and wrapped in a big bumper off 3 for 2 pack.... which is then put into the customers plastic bag if they don't have the bag for life.  Forget the mention all the mini packs of silica jell in each packet too, you guessed it, wrapped in plastic. 

 

<deleted> is wrong with people?!!  I think some shoppers have a fetish for plastic, and food wrapped in plastic is more tempting for them... same as the sea turtles and whales eating the plastic in the sea as its attractive to them, humans are buying the plastic wrapped stuff as its attractive to them.

 

Simply put a massive tax of plastic packaging.  Producers and retailer will soon cut back then!!!!  

Edited November 1, 2019 by jak2002003

[Cadbury]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

.........ban on single-use plastics

Single-use plastics eh?

Well in theory that should put an end to Big Oud's expensive overblown single use self glorification plastic/vinyl banners which after being used once to promote himself and his team have no further use and are discarded. 

Who are willing to bet that we've seen the last of them; or will double standards raise it's ugly head.....again. 

[SpaceKadet]

I think you people didn't read the OP correctly:

 

"the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation has confirmed that four single-use plastic products, namely foam boxes, plastic bags, straws, and glasses will be totally banned from the ministry and its agencies by 2022."

 

It affects only the ministry itself, not the whole of Thailand.

So relax, you can still get your street food in you favorite foam box, and sip your Coke from a plastic bag through a plastic straw.

[djayz]

3 hours ago, mok199 said:

How do you plan on changing the eating habbits of an entire nation,that eats 3 meals a day served takeout style,in plastic and foam .....

Not to mention the plastic eating utensils. When I asked a few colleagues why they don't use the reusable cutlery in the kitchen I got blank stares and then and answer: It more convenient for me. Why I have to waste my time washing spoon and fork? I am very busy (said she as she turned her attention back to FB and continued scrolling ang scrolling and...). 

That, I believe, sums up the root of the problem: too lazy and too ignorant. If they had to pay extra for all this plastic stuff they might think twice about taking it. 

[SABloke]

6 hours ago, z42 said:

While i admire the vision i don't have much faith in the ability of any Thai agency to adequately educate or change the behaviours of the average Somchai, and turn them into environmentalists.

 

Hope to see real endeavour on this though.

You admire "the vision"? What vision? Read the article carefully...in typical intentional Thai obfuscation, the headline is false. The devil is in the details: "...namely foam boxes, plastic bags, straws, and glasses will be totally banned from the ministry and its agencies by 2022."

 

They are planning to ban these plastics on ministry property...nothing more.

 

[LazySlipper]

"According to the waste –to-wealth concept of the circular economy, agriculture products and waste from the agriculture industry can be processed as biomaterial, or other highly valuable substances for use in the power generating industry. “Waste is a resource for sustainable energy in local communities,” he added."

 

Any of these 100 watts ever hear of composting vs fire?

[kevinsan]

Someone in the government must have a recyclable plastic bag factory ready to open but cannot compete on price. Kind of reminds one of the helmet law in the early 90s. Only one helmet manufacturer was certified to sell helmets.

[Estrada]

16 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Some of us grew up with paper straws (old I know) but they did do the job (kind of) - but just like paper bags plastic worked a hell of a lot better.  

Paper straws are plastised so not a good alternative.

[Estrada]

9 hours ago, LazySlipper said:

"According to the waste –to-wealth concept of the circular economy, agriculture products and waste from the agriculture industry can be processed as biomaterial, or other highly valuable substances for use in the power generating industry. “Waste is a resource for sustainable energy in local communities,” he added."

 

Any of these 100 watts ever hear of composting vs fire?

Yes... We already installed composting plants at the waste transfer stations many years ago. The problem is that 99.99% of the public, perhaps you too, refuse to segregate waste into garbage (green bins = wet waste) and rubbish (dry waste for waste to energy and recyclables) The result is that the "Lesscost" compost produced at the transfer stations contain too much broken glass so the BMA use it for their parks and gardens. Composting of biomaterials produces gas which is burnt in the power plant to raise steam to provide power, the remainder can be used as treated compost for soil conditioning and improvement.

[Pungdo]

18 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

Looking for non plastic drinking straws for the bar in Makro the other day. After hunting for 10 minutes I asked......Answer.....No Hab. There was however, pallets stacked 2 metres high with every conceivable shape, size, colour, of plastic straws in bags of 500 at a time. 

I saw this the other day, yes it's in Vietnam, but maybe available here sometime.
 

 

[Khun Loong]

555

[Incobart]

17 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Some of us grew up with paper straws (old I know) but they did do the job (kind of) - but just like paper bags plastic worked a hell of a lot better.  

actually in Europe we grow up drinking without straws, I was surprised to see in Thailand why they all use,  I don't see why they are needed. (except maybe coconut)

[neeray]

Thai ministries: The HUB of lofty ideas and buzz words.

[berrec]

Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, well there's an oxymoron for you!

 

Quite an interrogated portfolio for one department where historically there has been a significant number of shortfalls of actual announcements verses deliverables in all of these disciplines in this department.

 

I anticipate from the attitude of the Thai people and the extreme reliance on plastic bags that it may be a bridge to far for any real significant reform.

 

If the billionaires and elites would like to fund this initiative and help those Thais at the poverty end of the spectrum reliant on plastic bags (majority of the population) maybe ….. maybe it might get a leg up.   

 

Here’s the BCG report link if you’re interested in some bedtime reading to put you to sleep.

 

BCG Report

[Prairieboy]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

all agencies under his ministry to stop using the single use plastic products,

So who do I notify when I see one of his minions leaving the local market with 12 or 15 plastic bags and 4 Styrofoam containers with the families evening meal.