Thailand wants to ban plastic
July 3, 2019
The Thai government wants to ban the use of plastic, such as straws and cups, but also Styrofoam. That goal must be achieved by mid-2022.
Prime Minister Prayut asks for a change of mentality among the population: “People's habits must change. Everyone needs to become more aware of plastic pollution. So I appeal to consumers to refuse plastic carrier bags in shops and department stores. The government will also take measures”.
The government has banned plastic seals on water bottles for this year.
Source: Bangkok Post
About this blogger
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Known as Khun Peter (62), lives alternately in Apeldoorn and Pattaya. In a relationship with Kanchana for 14 years. Not yet retired, have my own company, something with insurance. Crazy about animals, especially dogs and music.
Enough hobbies, but unfortunately little time: writing for Thailandblog, fitness, health and nutrition, shooting sports, chatting with friends and some other oddities.
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Mr Prayut should realize that in many countries there is such a thing as waste disposal.
By the way, I don't necessarily mean Europe, which dumped its plastic waste in Asia, and Asia probably dumped all that plastic into the ocean afterwards.
Proper collection and processing of waste would make the environment a lot cleaner, or pollute it less quickly.
Incidentally, plastic is usually an excellent fuel, just like rubber (old car tires).
Would there really be no one in the world who could design a plastic-fired power plant?
In the last book of Suske en Wiske, Professor Barabas is busy removing the plastic in the sea.
So it should actually be possible.
I'm afraid removing the plastic from the sea will be difficult.
The problem is not in plastic bottles and other large things, but in the self-disintegrating plastic bags.
I'm afraid that in a while the first whales will wash up, starved to death with a belly full of plastic.
The solution to this is to teach the whales that plastic is not food.
How is a whale that swims with its mouth open to let all those little crustaceans swim in, learn to spit out all those little pieces of plastic?
Those small pieces of plastic (from disintegrating plastic bags) simply go into his stomach.
Whether they will always come out again, or whether they can hide things, is very much the question.
Read on: plastic is too valuable to use as fuel. It is better to reuse it as plastic (that orange-red “hero”. That is called recycling.
In the past (from the 50s) this was simply burned in the AVR, etc., but it gave harmful / toxic Dioxin in the waste gases.
Burning plastic is even more harmful than dumping the plastic.
Air pollution is the biggest problem on earth, but that is being concealed en masse because money is more important for the multinationals and left-wing suckers.
Wanting is being able? I have yet to see that here
Haha Thailand plastic free, dream on mister Prayut.
Or are you going to let the army crack down on the offenders?
If the government is going to impose this on companies and shops, it must eventually be feasible.
In Kenya there is a total ban on plastic and that has a clear effect. You are not even allowed to take a plastic bag from the plane into the country.
https://simpleflying.com/kenya-plastic-bag-fine/
It has positive effects, but also negative ones, because there is no good alternative to store certain foods.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/25/nairobi-clean-up-highs-lows-kenyas-plastic-bag-ban
Thursday, a plastic-free beach day! 555
If Thailand starts producing decent drinking water from the tap, the plastic problem will be a lot less.
And start acting as stupid as the Western world? Everything that comes out of the tap is first class drinking water, but what do we do with it? Drinking, use in the kitchen and the bathroom is clear, but why we use expensive drinking water to flush the toilet, wash the car and water the garden is pure indulgence and incomprehensible.
Years ago there was an action on TV: 'Do you ever drink from the toilet?'. The intention was to measure whether there was a willingness to accept a second pipe in the houses with clean water instead of drinking water. Nothing came of it. But if we are in a foreign country, we will be satisfied with two types of water…..
As for Thailand, you don't have to sell water in plastic bottles; we use 20L jerry cans on deposit in Thailand. None of that ends up in the plastic soup. Finally, drinking water from the tap is becoming unaffordable for the poor in Thailand and furthermore the objections have been reported.
Or you can place a filter in between and you have excellent drinking water.
An expensive purchase only for the real minimums.
Erik, we have been using a water filter for about 25 years. It hangs in the kitchen and is for drinking water and cooking, for everything else we use the tap water. Do have to renew the filters every year and is not expensive. So we never buy plastic bottles with drinking water.
Last year I installed a water filter in the kitchen and since then we drink that water, wash our vegetables with it and make ice cubes. We used to have to take away our plastic waste once a month, but now it is only once every six months!
We save over 500 baht per month on water bottles (and we bought the cheap ones from Makro).
In addition, “der Farang” contained an article in which it was written that a large recycling plant is being built in Rayong, a co-operation between an Austrian company and a Thai company. This will cost 1 billion Baht and should be ready in a year and a half. So a start has been made..
https://der-farang.com/de/pages/in-rayong-entsteht-recyclingfabrik-fuer-plastik
At tesco there is no plastic bag for groceries 1 day a month and I think that is also the case at other supermarkets. If he wants to do something about it, forbid issuance and make sure you can't buy them separately anywhere, otherwise the Thai will buy them himself. But this article again has a high 5555 content.
No plastic bag for 1 day, but when I look at my groceries, literally everything is wrapped in plastic, or in a plastic package..
That's why I got everything in a paper bag the day before yesterday, thought everything was already banned.
If Prayut hopes that the Thai population will change their mind, then I don't see the plastic problem solved in the next 20 years either
Why doesn't he just start at the source of the plastic problem, and give supermarkets, producers, coffee to go, etc. a transitional period in which it is mandatory to remove all plastic from the range.
All this interest of Prayut with which he thinks to impress the common people, while he does not seem man enough to actually force the real multis, who bear the main blame for this pollution, to think twice.
At some 7/11 3 garbage cans in different colors are set up, so that the garbage can be handed in separately.
At a Lotus they sold bags for 39 Baht to do groceries in, among other things.
They give a 10 Baht discount when you bring your own bag.
Some shops sell cups for, for example, smoothies, coffee ice or other drinks, then you get a discount if you bring your own drinking cup. (Amazon)
The beginning is here!
I wonder if banning those plastic bags makes sense and that's why. The plastic bags get a second life with us as garbage bags. So if plastic bags are no longer provided, I will have to buy plastic waste bags. So no reduction in plastic waste.
These are not bags that are reused. It's about the hundreds of millions that are not reused and are lying “somewhere” and blowing around.
That is also the case with us, every bag is reused to store something or as a garbage bag (you).
The problem is not the plastic, the problem is leaving the plastic lying around, carelessly throwing it away or dropping it where it is.
The Thai economy is doing the right thing so that the country does not care about anything other than pure money gain.
The Thai government does not even manage to make a bus stop and leave where it should .... what would they do about plastic?
Apart from some bullying rules like everywhere, nothing has changed at all about the really important things.
What would the air quality be like? It's fine again I suppose?
So no more calls from a Thai minister to use plastic 'boats' with Loy Kratong as only a few years ago? (the Chao Praya ed just dump that in the sea)
Won't happen soon, but it should be able to be pushed back.
On Koh Tao, plastic bags are no longer given just for meat.
One should start with awareness among store staff.
If they stop giving bags with small purchases and ask if a bag is needed, that's a start.
Further information at schools and other direct channels. Nobody listens to the weekly talk on TV.
And good waste management. We had a collection service and garbage dump. Suddenly the garbage cans are gone and the belt is gone. at best they burn the dirt, at worst they thunder it somewhere along the road outside the village. Such a shame.
People must first be educated. When I look around me left and right, there are plastic bottles or cups everywhere that people simply throw away when they are empty. My girlfriend did it too but when I said something about it she agreed with me. Here people walk with carts who then pick up the plastic and sell it, but they don't get everywhere so there is still enough junk on the side of the road.
Dear Co, I completely agree with you, but I think it's not just the Thai people who need to change their mentality, how they deal with plastic. The Belgians, Dutch, French, Germans, in short, the entire world population should change their mentality, how they leave their waste everywhere they go.!! And I'm not just talking about Plastic bottles and packaging! It is also mentioned here on the Blog that Thailand should recycle the excess plastic better, I also see people here who regularly come to collect the plastic empties and everywhere I come across people who collect the plastic along the road and even take it out of rubbish bins, for to be delivered to the recycling factory, because they also earn a few bats with it. It is exactly the same here in Thailand as in Belgium, which I have already posted several times on Facebook, that most people have to change themselves, how they deal with their waste.!!
Here in Thailand we also use the large drinking water bottles, which are delivered at home everywhere in Thailand.!! The small plastic bottles of soft drinks always go in a big barrel, until the man comes to collect them, and you get money on top of it.!!
Every little bit can help raise awareness of the amount of plastic that is used. 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/groups/384929215252402/?ref=share
When I see what I collect from my own plastic waste in NL, I am shocked.
In stores even cucumber wrapped in plastic. Tomatoes in plastic containers and plastic wrap.
Sandwiches not in a paper bag, but in plastic.
There are very good alternative raw materials available for several products, such as bamboo.
It's simple: plastic that is not produced does not end up in the system.
So get to the source. Less plastic. And we as consumers can help with that. If possible, do not buy products that are unnecessarily wrapped in plastic. Or indicate in the store why no alternative packaging is used. We can wait for the government (top-down), but we can also do something ourselves (bottom-up).
And indeed: in Thailand "a little" more environmental awareness would not be crazy; schooling.
When I buy a small bag of Moccona coffee at 7/11, which can fit in my pocket, it is still put in a plastic bag. After paying I take out the coffee bag, put it in my pocket and put the plastic bag on the counter.
In Bangkok I got the question 'ao kràpăo mái?' at many supers (including seven) with only 1-2 products. A simple 'mâi ao kháp' was enough not to get a bag.
You can make bioplastic from hemp,
which you can compost later.
I don't know why it isn't done.
You can also make paper from hemp
and use for product packaging.
I don't understand why it isn't done.
You can make a lot of hemp,
why it is not grown everywhere
I really don't understand!
Well Chris I understand.
There will be very little bioplastic and even less paper.
Moderator: Unreadable due to missing or incorrect use of punctuation marks. So not posted.
What most people completely ignore in this excessive plastic consumption is the question, how healthy is this plastic for humans and animals?
When this material is burned, extremely toxic fumes are released, and much of this waste that is dumped in the sea or elsewhere, people get back into their bodies when they eat fish and meat.
There is hardly any shampoo or other hygiene product that is not full of harmful plastic particles.
Even have the impression that the drinking water from the well-known plastic bottles also has a very unhealthy taste.
The regular laboratory investigations often yield extremely worrying results, which should give humanity much to think about further use of this material.
Dear editors,
When I read this what is said 'it starts with yourself' and people will then take over
I think that the problem is shied away from.
This government should be more active in making this clear to the population
what plastic does to nature.
I'm not a saint and try and do what most bloggers say to reuse it,
does not alter the fact that one plastic coffee cup only breaks down after 100 years.
The processing of plastic should be done by companies, here must and will (don't think so)
Must be inverted.
Another beautiful balloon.
Yours faithfully,
Erwin
I am in contact with a company that, after 18 years of research and experimentation, is now building installations that convert 20 tons (20.000 kg) of plastic waste into 18.000 liters of Advanced Bio Diesel through a heat process. PER DAY and without harmful gases or nasty residues, such as sulfur (Sulfur is measured, among other things, to determine the degree of air pollution).
This biodiesel, produced from plastic waste, is of such high quality that it hardly needs any processing for processing into an end product. Low-speed engines such as marine diesels can already use this biodiesel directly.
An interesting project that on the one hand tackles the (worldwide) plastic problem and on the other meets the demand for good quality biodiesel. In Europe, 2020% of regular fuel such as petrol and diesel must consist of biodiesel by 10. (political decision). The company entered the market this year with their 5th generation installation, where no gases escape or residual pollution occurs.
The company works closely with an experienced investment company, which is committed to raising money from large and small investors to fund 50 installations. 50×20 tons of plastic is converting 1000 tons of plastic PER DAY into biodiesel.
The first installation is now operational and already produces 18.000 liters of biodiesel.
The next 2 are now being built and will be operational in the coming weeks.
The biodiesel is traded by the regular oil trade and ends up in the fuels that are filled up at the petrol pump. The oil trade pays the manufacturer of the installations in a crypto coin, so that the more biodiesel is consumed/traded, the more value this coin gets.
Investors will receive a number of these coins depending on their investment. In this way it is also possible for the 'ordinary' man and woman to become involved in this solution that works!
In this way, investors contribute to solving the plastic waste problem, improving the environment by using bio diesel and strengthening their own personal financial situation (it is not a donation, but an investment).
For more information : [email protected]
I wouldn't immediately call diesel made from plastic Biodiesel, because that is normally made from (no longer) living material.
It's a nice development, although I've never heard anything about it.
Perhaps Europe will now collect all that plastic dumped in Asia – if Asia, or the ships that had to bring that plastic to Asia – at least have not already dumped all that plastic into the sea.