World Bank said Thailand is in a significant plastic waste crisis

[zzaa09]

9 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Don't know about Thailand, but in the UK many trash bins were removed due to religion of peace terrorism issues ! 

Christianity?

[bristolgeoff]

Shops or bigger shops have being trying for yrs to change thai habits.Not a easy thing to do,some know try hard and others not so.This is a problem in asia and round many parts of the world

[SunsetT]

6 hours ago, SymS said:

The problem is that the most locals don't seem to be bothered by the garbage, they don't view discarded packages and plastic bags as dirty.

In some case, even close to government areas (e.g. amphur) the place is not cleaned up. The cleanest places are usually locations like beaches and parks managed by the military.

Most Thais dont seem to have any aesthetic sense (I wonder if this evolves with rational thought) and are quite content to live in squalor....and have relationships with fat, ugly,  wrinkly old men (Thank god...555).

[SunsetT]

What gets me are the bakeries, where people have to queue because every item (cake, etc.) bought is individually wrapped and sellotaped in plastic before further plastic bagging. Utter madness and so unnecessary! Many are Japanese chains which, never able to remember their name, I pronounce 'Kamikaze'. which is quite apt really given the behaviour of the Human Race and its future!

Edited June 10, 2022 by SunsetT

[The Hammer2021]

10 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Don't know about Thailand, but in the UK many trash bins were removed due to religion of peace terrorism issues ! 

Nope. They were first  removed, especially from railway stations, because  of  the IRA bombing campaigns.

[The Hammer2021]

The good news!

https://metro.co.uk/2022/06/10/worm-with-a-taste-for-polystyrene-may-save-us-from-the-plastic-crisis-16804138/

[ThailandRyan]

5 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

The good news!

https://metro.co.uk/2022/06/10/worm-with-a-taste-for-polystyrene-may-save-us-from-the-plastic-crisis-16804138/

Saw that on TNN just an hour ago. Pretty interesting

[overherebc]

6 hours ago, multatuli said:

Not all Asians: none of that in eg Singapore, where you risk a very hefty fine for anything thrown into the street

And therein lies an answer.

If there was a body of government with men who had the authority to catch people breaking the law and fine them then people might think twice about throwing rubbish about.

[The Hammer2021]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

Saw that on TNN just an hour ago. Pretty interesting

Its in today's  papers and been on Bloomberg

 

[bstafford214]

8 hours ago, DualSportBiker said:

I've asked a few people I watched dropping the packaging they'd used; a bag of ice from 7/11, a cup and plastic holder from Amazon. When I asked why they don't put it in a bin they said it was not their job to clear up trash. So I told them it was not trash - it was theirs since they bought it minutes prior. The response was "I bought the contents, not the packaging. It's not my job to clean it up."

This is the common sense of people here and around the world who would justify this as to why it's not their job. But to throw it on the ground is an action you chose to do, which is many countries against the law. But I know their are no enforced laws here, so your preaching to the choir.

[Lemsta69]

13 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

Walk on the beach and try to find wastebins on many beaches in Thailand, there are non or very few and overloaded as they are maybe emptied once a day. Than still Thailand is using too much plastic. Everything must be in a plastic bag if you bought something, even for 1 item they want to give a bag. How often don't you see soft drinks with ice in plastic bags or iced coffee and tea  and nowhere waste bins.. We walked around in Big C, Lotus, Robinson Mega Bangna and many other places and almost no waste bins to find. There is a lot of work to do, but as usual the Government haven't done nothing in the past years except trying to ban plastic bags( now available again for a few baht) in the superstores....Surely they silence now

I ordered a single pepperoni pizza the other day. it came in a cardboard box of course but then they put that inside a huge white plastic bag. then just to rub salt into the wounds they gave me about 20 tomato ketchup packets.

 

I think I need to move to the country and start growing my own food, this plastic waste business is out of control ????

[GreenPhoenixNRG]

This is interesting to say the least, the problem is that plastic waste has become a "Product" in Thailand and it is bought and sold as such. When there is a product and profit to be made, you get greed and corruption, although I am sure there is no corruption in Thailand. There is an organzation in Thailand that auction off the plastic to the highest bidders, so the price is never the same. The auctioned plastic is used to make more plastics, hence never really removing the plastic problem, just kicking it down the road to another generation to deal with. Thailand will never change and the same "families" (not referring to the big Family) will control everything until the bloody end.

[GreenPhoenixNRG]

3 hours ago, SunsetT said:

Most Thais dont seem to have any aesthetic sense (I wonder if this evolves with rational thought) and are quite content to live in squalor....and have relationships with fat, ugly,  wrinkly old men (Thank god...555).

Don't forget "Mostly" bald 

[Isaan sailor]

Better to buy wine in a glass bottle, or in a tetrapak?  And with beer, better aluminum cans or glass bottles?  Of course, my favorite way—by the keg.

[oslooskar]

16 hours ago, Spock said:

Right, so the trash is not coming from Thailand at all! Gottya. Probably come all the way from Australia, Singapore or Europe. 

No, the point was that the bulk of the trash on the beaches in Rayong was not deposited there by beach-goers. In fact, a few weeks ago the beaches here were covered with pumice, and I'm quite certain that it didn't come from around here.

[jacko45k]

17 hours ago, Spock said:

Right, so the trash is not coming from Thailand at all! Gottya. Probably come all the way from Australia, Singapore or Europe. 

As stated before... all the tourists come in with suitcases loaded up with Styrofoam food containers and empty Chang bottles!

[DualSportBiker]

16 hours ago, bstafford214 said:

This is the common sense of people here and around the world who would justify this as to why it's not their job. But to throw it on the ground is an action you chose to do, which is many countries against the law. But I know their are no enforced laws here, so your preaching to the choir.

I can't remember hearing that excuse before I moved here. I might be wrong... but yes, I agree. However I make an effort not to preach; I try to only ask questions or answer theirs if I must. I prefer to leave them to think rather than prejudice their opinions by injecting my own.

Edited June 11, 2022 by DualSportBiker

[Jen65]

On 6/10/2022 at 1:03 PM, shackleton said:

If people on here are  that concerned about plastic waste ect 

Why don't they help clean it up 

Don't read to many stories of expats tourist ect cleaning up the beaches 

As before in Pattaya Phuket to name a few 

There is a farang beach clean up group in Banchang who regularly organise beach clean ups !!!    Do you see a Thai beach clean up group ???  very occasionally yes and I expect as the problem becomes more widespread so more people will become more conscious on the need to clean the beaches .     The beach deckchair vendors here in Jomtien do actually try to clean up their "patch" in the mornings - a thankless task .  

[jacko45k]

10 hours ago, Jen65 said:

 The beach deckchair vendors here in Jomtien do actually try to clean up their "patch" in the mornings - a thankless task .  

Do they still chuck the rubbish they collect back into the sea on an ebbing tide way from their patch?

[Purdey]

On 6/10/2022 at 11:59 AM, Isaan sailor said:

Kudos to Singha Beer in small aluminum cans.  The six pack uses a reinforced cardboard—to replace those plastic rings.

I suppose you know that beer cans are lined with plastic? When aluminium cans first came out people complained about the metallic taste caused by the aluminium (aye lad, I were there!). So they lined them with plastic. Same for soft drink cans.

 

Should we switch to paper packaging (tetrapak) perhaps? They're all lined with plastic. And are very hard to recycle.