Rich countries export their plastic waste to poorer countries.

The US sent more than 800 million pounds of plastic waste to Mexico, Malaysia, India, Vietnam and Thailand in 2021.

 

The U.S. is one of only eight countries that has not yet ratified the Basel Convention.

Southeast Asian recycling plants are major destinations for plastic from the US and other wealthy economies. If you drop a bottle into a blue bin in California or Texas, there’s a good chance that a recycling broker will eventually pack it into a shipping container bound for Indonesia, Thailand or Malaysia. 

 

Once it arrives, it will enter a vast ecosystem of recycling plants staffed by migrant workers from still-poorer countries. Generally, only higher-quality plastic can be profitably recycled; after those items are removed, the rest will be incinerated, dumped or simply burned in the open, dramatically worsening its environmental impacts. Around 1 million tons are dumped into the ocean globally.
Only around 9 percent of plastic waste in Thailand is currently recycled.

 

In 2017 the Chinese government stunned the waste industry by unveiling a policy called National Sword, which banned imports of all but the cleanest plastic. National Sword was aggressively enforced, and imports to China essentially disappeared overnight, dropping 99% in the first year after it took effect. This led to a devastating effect on neighbouring countries who absorbed the shortfall.

 

In addition Europe’s plastic waste — especially from the Netherlands, whose plastic exports to developing countries increased dramatically last year, from an average of 18.3 million pounds per month in 2020 to 41 million pounds in 2021.

"Thailand will ban all plastic waste imports by 2025 in a three-stage plan as part of a greater plastic reduction movement to control pollution and protect people’s health."

https://earth.org/thailand-ban-plastic-imports/#:~:text=Thailand will ban all plastic,pollution and protect people's health.

Thailand additionally needs to do much more on its own plastic waste that clogs the beaches and sea. Plastic bag usage has certainly decreased in Phuket but not to the levels required and still a lot of work to do in the ocean.

 

There's a small but useful project being run by a specially designed and constructed catamaran in Phuket that sweeps the sea close to the shore of as much of it as it can. While it cannot keep up, its a positive contribution to help. They rely on voluntary donations from International Schools and larger businesses. My daughter is taking part in an all night football competition to help raise funds this weekend.

 

Video of it in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sfFf6O0kzM

 

 

Recycling is a joke, better simply to burn, hopefully clean, for energy, 

https://www.incubationnetwork.com/in-plain-sight-the-hidden-value-of-thailands-plastic-waste/#:~:text=Plastic waste is currently economic,of plastic in the ocean.

 

Depending what source you read <5% (Greenpeace, big surprise) up to only 20%  is recycled properly.

 

We burn our trash, as prefer that over what the govt does with it: landfill or dump in sea.

 

Next project:

 

 

Thailand passed a law in October 2022 to allow PET to be recycled and reused. Many global drinks companies want to use recycled PET, but guess what? The Thai Food and Drug people are holding up permission for individual companies who have technology accepted in the USA and EU while they keep changing their mind about how to measure compliance