Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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buksida
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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PCD to axe water bottle seals by end of year
The Pollution Control Department (PCD) has set a target of eradicating plastic cap seals on drinking water bottles by the end of this year.

A cap seal is the small plastic strip attached to the cap that must be peeled off before the bottle can be opened. Studies have found that bottles without them pose no greater risk to hygiene.

The PCD has received firm commitments from five big players in the commercial bottled water sector that they will cease using cap seals by April 1, according to Sunee Piyapanpong, PCD's chief.

They are Boonrawd Trading (Singha drinking water), Sermsuk (Crystal), Thai Beverage (Chang), Nestle (Nestle Pure Life) and Carabao Group (Carabao).

"The reality is we still can't stop using plastic, but we can try to use it only when necessary. Today, we can reduce the cap seals used by the big companies by 80%. We hope that by next year, there will no longer be any cap seals used at all in the country," she said.

Thai PCD is keen to reduce the amount of non-recyclable waste generated each year, and yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with 11 partners, from both the state and commercial sectors.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/enviro ... nd-of-year
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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OK, that's one tiny little step - better than nowt.

I gave my students a lecture today about drinking straws. I told them they don't need them for their purchases of water, orange juice, etc. Just say no! While I was at it I told them to refuse carrier bags. I'm going to keep bashing it in - my swan song during my last term here. :)

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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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Top bottled water brands 'contaminated with plastic particles'

https://www.bangkokpost.com/lifestyle/f ... -particles

MIAMI - The world's leading brands of bottled water, including those on sale in Thailand, are contaminated with tiny plastic particles that are likely seeping in during the packaging process, according to a major study across nine countries published Wednesday.

"Widespread contamination" with plastic was found in the study, led by microplastic researcher Sherri Mason of the State University of New York at Fredonia, according to a summary released by Orb Media, a US-based non-profit media collective.

Researchers tested 250 bottles of water in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Thailand, and the United States.

Plastic was identified in 93% of the samples, which included major name brands such as Aqua, Aquafina, Dasani, Evian, Nestle Pure Life and San Pellegrino.

The plastic debris included polypropylene, nylon, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used to make bottle caps.

"In this study, 65% of the particles we found were actually fragments and not fibres," Mason told AFP.

"I think it is coming through the process of bottling the water. I think that most of the plastic that we are seeing is coming from the bottle itself, it is coming from the cap, it is coming from the industrial process of bottling the water."

Particle concentration ranged from "zero to more than 10,000 likely plastic particles in a single bottle," said the report.

On average, plastic particles in the 100 micron (0.10 millimetre) size range -- considered "microplastics" -- were found at an average rate of 10.4 plastic particles per litre.

Even smaller particles were more common -- averaging about 325 per litre.

Other brands that were found to contain plastic contaminated included Bisleri, Epura, Gerolsteiner, Minalba and Wahaha.

Experts cautioned that the extent of the risk to human health posed by such contamination remains unclear.
"There are connections to increases in certain kinds of cancer to lower sperm count to increases in conditions like ADHD and autism," said Mason.

"We know that they are connected to these synthetic chemicals in the environment and we know that plastics are providing kind of a means to get those chemicals into our bodies."

Previous research by Orb Media has found plastic particles in tap water, too, but on a smaller scale.

"Tap water, by and large, is much safer than bottled water," said Mason, referring to tap water in Western countries.
The three-month study used a technique developed by the University of East Anglia's School of Chemistry to "see" microplastic particles by staining them using fluorescent Nile Red dye, which makes plastic fluorescent when irradiated with blue light.

"We have been involved with independently reviewing the findings and methodology to ensure the study is robust and credible," said lead researcher Andrew Mayes, from UEA's School of Chemistry. "The results stack up."

Jacqueline Savitz, chief policy officer for North America at Oceana, a marine advocacy group that was not involved in the research, said the study provides more evidence that society must abandon the ubiquitous use of plastic water bottles.

"We know plastics are building-up in marine animals, and this means we too are being exposed, some of us, every day," she said.
"It's more urgent now than ever before to make plastic water bottles a thing of the past."
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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Alarm raised as Thailand drowns in plastic trash
IN FEBRUARY LAST YEAR, a patch of plastic trash almost 10 kilometres long was seen floating off the coast of the Gulf of Thailand in Chumpon province, prompting a wake-up call about the plastic pollution problem which has become increasingly serious in recent years.

Tara Buakamsri, Thailand country director for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, which campaigns against pollution, has observed the phenomenon with concern. It’s the tip of the iceberg, Tara said, referring to the plastic trash problem. “The plastic problem is actually serious, just like other global environmental problems.

But we did not see it, as it did not appear to our eyes – not until recent years,” said Tara. He cited new scientific evidence showing the health impact of plastic as well as ever-growing patches of plastic trash floating in the oceans worldwide, including the one which appeared off Chumpon’s coast last year.


http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/ ... l/30344702
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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Burning trash/plastic is a major problem in Thailand. Lack of education on the dangers it causes is part of the issue, this flyer explains them.

burningplastic2.jpg


Some info in English for those interested/worried: http://www.wecf.eu/cms/download/2004-20 ... astics.pdf
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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Every year Thailand generates 4.4 billion bottles of drinking water, with 60% using plastic cap seals, generating 520 tonnes of waste.
- Bangkok Post

How about delivering potable water to peoples' homes so they don't feel compelled to consume so much plastic?

Here's a video I made a recently showing waste dumped along a road near my house in Korat.



The government recently bulldozed all that waste into the adjacent wetland where the toxins will enter the groundwater and eventually end up in someone's tap water.
trash.jpg
trash.jpg (245.47 KiB) Viewed 3635 times
.

No wonder people prefer bottled water.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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The above is pretty bad I have not seen that volume of dumping in HH, however surely the problem with the above is not so much plastic but a lack of basic services for the community. Inadequate refuse collection and no local dump to take refuse to. Then again most Thai's only have a little scooter so they can't take their rubbish somewhere.

Near my place there are a few locations near to main roads where locals take their waste as there must be no collection in their area. The authorities remove rubbish now and then but they only take the full bags, loose rubbish is left on the floor. These locations are real eyesore. Why they can't provide a skip I don't know, well yes I do this is Ting Tong Land and no one cares.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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buksida wrote: Fri May 11, 2018 7:28 am Burning trash/plastic is a major problem in Thailand. Lack of education on the dangers it causes is part of the issue, this flyer explains them...........Some info in English for those interested/worried: http://www.wecf.eu/cms/download/2004-20 ... astics.pdf
I've often wondered which is worse, burning the stuff and getting it over with, or letting it float for a century or more poisoning and choking sea life and perhaps ourselves with the resulting microplastic particles. I bet there are a thousand opinions on it out there, none of which are based upon anything that we can be sure of. :( :? Pete :cheers:
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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StevePIraq wrote: Fri May 11, 2018 11:39 am The above is pretty bad I have not seen that volume of dumping in HH.
Actually, I posted a similar video on here, made in Hua Hin about 4 years ago, entitled something like Hua Hin's shame. However, you are correct, nobody seemed too bothered.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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StevePIraq wrote: Fri May 11, 2018 11:39 am The above is pretty bad I have not seen that volume of dumping in HH, however surely the problem with the above is not so much plastic but a lack of basic services for the community. Inadequate refuse collection and no local dump to take refuse to
There is good garbage collection in this area. But, there are two big problems:
  • They won't take green garbage unless it is in plastic bags.
  • There's no alternative dump site for construction debris or the green garbage that won't fit it bags.
So, yeah, you need to make it easy for people to do the right thing.

As for the plastic; the vast majority of it gets retrieved from the dump site by scavengers. They break the concrete to get the steel out. They quickly grab the plastic bottles. But, the little stuff they leave behind can be awful: plastic bags, plastic bottle caps and sealers, etc.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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The one place I was referring to is by the pool hall on Pala U Road, locals dump their refuse but so much is left sprawling all over the place once the municipality has done their bit
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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I have always been confused about exactly what plastics are recyclable, not all products in Thailand have the recycle symbol on them. If every product simply had a statement on it life would be easy.

The following gives some tips but as usual it may not apply in Ting Tong land, I have no idea what facilities they have here.

https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/pl ... e-numbers/
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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Most of the stuff in Thailand is not recyclable - they down-cycle and reuse some of it for other materials, the majority of it was sold to China now who no longer wants it. Sadly there isnt the same level or desire here to develop the technology Europe has for dealing with single use plastic, and Thailand is one of the world's top producers of the shit.

Even so, separating your own, and using less prevents it going back into the ocean - every little helps as they say.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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I remember back to my childhood when we used paper straws that always lasted for at least 2 bottles of soda, paper cups, glass bottles, paper shopping bags, wax paper instead of plastic film to wrap food etc. Thinking quickly the only plastic in my life in those days was my toothbrush, some plastic food containers my Mom had in the kitchen, and a few toys.

It wouldn't be that hard for the world to revert to non-plastic consumer items but it will never happen. The petrochemical lobby is too strong and corporations will have to be dragged kicking and screaming if any changes would affect their bottom line.

All we can do is our individual part to help avoid usage in our own lives and in the lives of people we have direct influence over, and pray that this newly discovered plastic eating bacteria is real and can be developed. It's not a happy subject to think about. :( Pete :cheers:
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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the bigest supermarket chain in DK will aband plastic plates,knife,fork ect. from next year.
its a small step but i think other will follow.

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