"Roughly 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into the world’s oceans every year, and according to a study oct 2015, the majority of this waste comes from just five countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam."

http://ecowatch.com/2015/10/15/plastic-pollution-oceans/

In the continuing absence of an eco/wildlife forum, i’ll post this as suggested in the “pets” section.......

Thailand has yet another hub to pin on it’s never-ending list of dubious accolades - they have made the top 5 of oceanic plastic pollution contributors.......

“Roughly 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into the world’s oceans every year, and according to a new study, the majority of this waste comes from just five countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.”

I guess anyone who strolls down any of the once beautiful beaches of Thailand will be aware of this, but do they realise the true and devastating extent to which plastic is killing the oceans and in turn being ingested by us?

- WSJ

Edited July 4, 201610 yr by cumgranosalum

Making people pay for plastic bags in the supermarkets AND ESPECIALLY 7-11 would make a massive difference, but sadly, all these developing countries just don't care.

Making people pay for plastic bags in the supermarkets AND ESPECIALLY 7-11 would make a massive difference, but sadly, all these developing countries just don't care.

Care? Well they don't know and for many it is a cheap form of packaging that the manufacturers use to help sell the product......e.g. food and drinks cooked on the street and taken home in plastic and polystyrene containers, by people who simply can't afford a kitchen and the wherewithal to cook at home with.

If the country wants to eat like that those businesses need to contribute to the after use collection and disposal of these convenient plastics.........it has often been said that civilisation can be measured in feet and inches (or meters) as the distance we put between ourselves and our own shit.

Thaiiland as yet does not appear to have control of that end of a consumer society.

(it would also curtail the dog population)

Edited July 4, 201610 yr by cumgranosalum

China is to busy spending money on beefing up islands in the South China sea to be bothered with doing away with plastic bags. Priority item. Then there is military spending you know one of the essentials of life

About 35 years ago I was flying with a small airplane in French Polynesia from Papeete to the remote island of Bora Bora.

From the air I could see a small island (diameter more than 100 meter) of polystyrene floating in what is really a remote part of the Pacific Ocean.

I guess that by now nearly all the oceans are polluted and that's why it is so difficult to find remains of crashed airplane floating with the garbage

If the oceans are dying ... can mankind survive this?

...sounds about right....

Hub a dub dub. Better call Saul sorry Bill G.

An utter disgrace that comes back to bite in the form of fewer tourists. You cant swing a dead trout in half the beaches around thailand without collecting a handful of disgusting plastic bags

jet skis / breast implants

In Thailand it's not just big supermarket plastic carrier bags that make the problem, it's all the little clear bags that are used. The way people buy their food in the modern Thailand it's difficult to suggest an alternative. A huge culture change will be needed and "rubbish" is not high on the political agenda of most countries in the region. Only Singapore is the exception.

It seems that people don't actually understand the situation with plastics in the sea - it isn't just polythene bags - it is the full gambit of plastics used in both consumer economies and in industry.

we all know how plastic bags kill turtles and how about accumulates in seabirds, there are floating islands of flip-flops, polystyrene and other plastics, and the ocean floor is reckoned to have more than twice the amount floating about...... but also there is the more imperceptible type perhaps more dangerous threat from micro plastics that can be ingested by tiny, single cell organisms and work their way through the food chain to us. (they are multiplied by each consumption)

Plastics are NOT inert they give off various chemicals depending of the type of plastic and it's the sort of stuff you don't want accumulating in your body....or your fish supper.

these are the contents now found in the innards of huge numbers of seabirds........

As PCBs (plastics commonly used as flame-retardants) photo-biodegrade, more of these chemicals are released. These can negatively effect our livers and hormone balances.

Edited July 5, 201610 yr by cumgranosalum

Yeah. It's a problem in the seas surrounding Thailand. Thank goodness it will never happen inland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.facebook.com/DavidAvocadoWolfe/videos/10153603640636512/

SO thats a way to reuse plastic, Thailand has lots of universities and so skilled engineers, put them to work for solving plastic problem.

Pet bottles you can crack to fuel. Or also use for building, just google for it !

But if you are lazy and burry your head in the sand?

https://www.facebook.com/DavidAvocadoWolfe/videos/10153603640636512/

SO thats a way to reuse plastic, Thailand has lots of universities and so skilled engineers, put them to work for solving plastic problem.

Pet bottles you can crack to fuel. Or also use for building, just google for it !

But if you are lazy and burry your head in the sand?

Firstly there are literally hundreds of ways of recycling and reusing plastic. You need to bear in mind that not all plastics can be reused or disposed of easily and all this requires money, first for collection and then for plant/manufacture and finally for distribution.

Also to think that there is a single solution to any problem is naive.

Finally you suggest Thailand universities can solve the problem

Again this is a blinkered approach as the problem of plastics is an INTERNATIONAL one - it requires world sponsored research (e.g. the EU sponsored several projects in UK and elsewhere to research this).

https://www.facebook.com/DirtyThailand/