Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

[HHTel]

"These kinds of mistakes will happen in many convenience stores because they don't know which plastic type will get banned by the government, as it plans to ban oxo-degradable plastic soon," Mr Apiphop said. "The government must be clear to help businesses."
The TPIA wants the government to make the announcement more clear and specify which plastic types it intends to ban.

Pretty clear to me. The government has banned oxo-degradable plastic, bottle seals and micro beads.
They've had plenty of warning as has been said.

[Lost]

Reports on social media are saying that Thai folk who forget to bring a plastic bag with them are taking the plastic shopping baskets home and even the trolleys.

Thai folk 1 - 0 Environment

[Big Boy]

Funnily enough, I saw a guy from the Party House up the road from me walking home with 2 shopping baskets yesterday.

He was Russian, not Thai.

[PeteC]

The classrooms made out of 100% plastic waste


https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-afric ... ld-schools

[PeteC]

I've noticed recently that a lot of food shops and restaurants that used to put take-away into plastic bags are now using cellophane bags. A good step forward IMO. I'm going on faith that it is true cellophane and not some kind of hybrid mix with plastic in it.

Definition below for those not familiar.

"Cellophane is derived from natural sources such as wood, while plastic wrap is made from oil. Unlike plastic, cellophane can't be recycled, but it is biodegradable, so it can be composted or sent to a landfill in the regular garbage"

[Big Boy]

Has anybody else noticed that it is becoming increasingly difficult to recycle in Hua Hin?

When we first moved here 8 years ago, it was easy. Phone up a truck, they'd be there the same day, weigh your waste and give you a few Baht for your trouble. Our grandchildren loved it, because they used to get the proceeds as a little extra pocket money.

Since Thailand is no longer the world's dumping ground for waste (probable realised they had plenty of their own) the revenue for recycle collection has been going steadily downwards (sorry kids ), and the number of collection trucks have decreased accordingly.

It has got to the stage now where we have the back of our house clogged up with recycling, and can't find anybody to collect it. Almost certainly, we are going to have to start putting this rubbish to the city waste collection trucks. So the willingness to recycle is there, but the means to recycle has all but vanished. I find the situation crazy.

[Dannie Boy]

We still have somebody collect ours but we now give it away as the money they get has also reduced. If you can’t find anybody to recycle it, you could “bag it up” and leave it next to one of the street waste bins and somebody will take it away for recycling.

[Big Boy]

Yes, that is basically what it might come to, but my point is, at a time when the world is encouraging recycle to save the world's resources, a simple action that worked well 8 years ago is becoming increasingly harder to do. I will continue to recycle because it's sort of inbred. However, without the financial incentives, your average Thai will not. Where will the items that should be recycled end up? Just read the Trash Heroes thread.

[Big Boy]

I found a solution to my personal recycle problem, and thought it might help others if I shared it.

Firstly, I considered carefully Dannie Boy's solution of putting it beside the bin. I ruled that out because the old lady next door raids the bins and has created a tip outside her house, in the road that attracts vermin (my dogs love it - great hunting grounds ). Effectively giving her my rubbish would just exasperate the situation - I hate her tip, and will not encourage her.

Desperation set in. I started thinking that I have a truck parked outside - why not take the mountain to Muhammad? Problem was, where does Muhammad live? Careful consideration and I find Muhammad lives just around the corner, almost next to Siam Milsum. I'm just back from taking a truck load. They actually pay more than the collection vans did so my granddaughters will be happy (of course, it cost me a thimbleful of diesel to drive there and back).

The interesting thing is they take a lot more than just bottles, cardboard and tins - there were plenty of larger electrical and mechanical items stood around the place. We often have people on here wondering where to dispose of stuff. So here is the location:

https://www.google.com/maps/@12.5521086 ... 312!8i6656

[buksida]

Plastic use soars after dine-in ban
Single-use plastic bags are making a comeback as a result of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

After their use was restricted at the start of the year, plastic bags can once again be seen littering the streets of greater Bangkok as people begin to rely on take-outs and food delivery services to adhere to the government's social distancing guidelines, said director-general of the Pollution Control Department (PCD), Pralong Dumrongthai.

According to the PCD, the volume of plastic waste has increased significantly since March 26, when the government banned restaurants from serving dine-in patrons. "Most of the waste is ready-to-eat food packages, plastic utensils and glass," he said.

According to him, the problem is compounded by the absence of a public campaign to educate people about the importance of sorting their waste.

"People tend to combine their garbage, often mixing food scraps with recyclables, which makes it harder for garbage collectors to sort it out and recycle," he said.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... ine-in-ban

[HHTel]

Another consideration is that plastic is a material that the virus can survive on for quite long periods compared with other materials.

[buksida]

Plastic plans fail as pandemic deliveries prevail
Single-use plastic is making a comeback, as Thais order takeout and delivery in soaring volumes because of the pandemic.

This was supposed to be the year Thailand started to phase out single-use plastic bags, in line with the government's plastic waste reduction roadmap. At the start of 2020, major retailers agreed to stop offering plastic bags, a policy that was supposed to be extended to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Despite this, the rise of delivery and e-commerce has inspired a surge demand, not just for plastic bags, but other forms of plastic packaging as well.

Surasak Luangaramsri, vice-chairman and the spokesperson of the plastic industry club under the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said demand for food packaging products and the flexible packaging has grown rapidly in the past few months.

"The plastic industry in Thailand, especially for food and beverage, has benefited from the outbreak," he says.

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https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/19 ... es-prevail

[PeteC]

The 50th anniversary of Earth Day passes unnoticed. At least we can notice it here with this bad news. If people think Covid-19 is bad, wait until their grandchildren see what's in store for them, when it will more than likely be too late to do anything about it.

SINGLE-USE PLASTICS, ONCE A PUBLIC ENEMY, SURGES BACK IN PANDEMIC

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/life/202 ... -pandemic/

BANGKOK — As the coronavirus epidemic is keeping most people at home, single-use plastic bags and packaging are making a comeback, an environment official warned on Wednesday.

Although the Pollution Control Department said they detected a slight drop in household garbage production since the stay-at-home policies came into effect, the volume of plastic waste surged as a result of greater use of food delivery services – threatening to upset the hard-won gains seen in Thailand just months ago.

“We found more plastic food packaging and utensils among the waste [in Bangkok],” director-general Pralong Dumrongthai said in a phone interview.

The waste situation is compounded by the fact that many people no longer opt for bringing their own containers amid the pandemic – a habit that only became a norm thanks to massive campaigns in 2019 – and garbage collectors are now less likely to sort waste due to fear of contamination.

“The department is currently collecting data from food service platforms to see the extent of impacts they pose to the environment,” Pralong said. “We are already in talks with service providers to ask them to switch to eco-friendly packaging.”

Revenge of the Plastics
With restaurants and cafes shuttered, Bangkokians rely more on food delivery services than ever.

According to Foodpanda, one of the online food delivery services available in Bangkok, the number of orders grew 20 to 25 percent compared to the same period last year.

Environmentalists fear the reliance on food deliveries and their multiple plastics may reverse the trend towards a zero-waste lifestyle, which appeared to enjoy much success earlier this year.

A major concern is that Thais will revert back to the habit of using plastics even after the virus fades away.

“This is the dilemma of comfort,” said Pichmol Rugrod from Greenpeace Thailand.

She added, “Before the epidemic, we’re trying to change people’s mindsets, so their behavior won’t change with circumstances and people will continue their eco-friendly lifestyle.”

Hard to Adapt
Food vendors remain split over support for eco-friendly packaging as they weigh between supporting the environment or convenience and preserving food quality. Concerns over perceived food hygiene sparked by the coronavirus pandemic may tip the scales even further.

Some vendors like Aut, a fried chicken vendor in Ari, said she found eco-friendly boxes made of bagasse impractical, despite her personal compassion towards the Earth.

“I tried bagasse boxes before, but customers couldn’t see what’s inside,” Aut, who now sells fried chicken rice in plastic boxes, said. “I’d love to save the Earth, but many of my customers don’t share my thoughts.”

[HHTel]

I picked this up from facebook. The scene is an older lady not having her own bag at the check-out. The cashier says it's because of her and her generation that people today have a problem. This was her response and contains some environmental tips from 'her day'.

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment,.
The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."
The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

The older lady said that she was right our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on toexplain: Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then. We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days.

Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.

We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing."

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart ass young person. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

So true!

[Dannie Boy]

This is obviously a made up story, but all of the points are very valid - we did indeed live a much greener life 50+ years ago!!