Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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

Post by MDMK »

I go the market at home once a week for fruit & veg. I have those old fashioned net bags. I get them to weigh the stuff in their own plastic bowls then they just tip it from the bowl into my net bag. One net bag for veg, one for fruit. No plastic bags used at all. With the exception of small things: mushrooms, bean sprouts, berries and the like. Only two of us at home but that must save about 20 bags a week.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

Post by MDMK »

For anyone who uses cat litter (or rather if their cats use it). Instead of scooping the used bits out into a plastic bag, just put it in old newspaper and kinda fold it up. Again... thats 700 odd bags less per year in our house.
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Re: RE: Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

Post by hhinner »


Ginjaninja wrote:^ thanks... what about the cotton buds?

I know you get the large wooden pharmaceutical types at the pharmacies but what about the domestic type? They must be common in the U.K. now as there is talk of banning the plastic ones.

I would like to hear some more proactive responses from forum members. What do you do to cut-down on plastic waste.. ??
Personally I find it very hard to really cut down.

I avoid plastic bottles and wash the ones I do end up buying.
I have a water filter and refill the large plastic water bottles I have had for a while.
Take my lifetime bags to the supermarket... Mrs. GN is also shows signs of improvement in this area.
Say no to plastic bags when I don't really need them. The ones I do take get used as garbage bags.
Top-up my shampoo, body-wash & fabric softener bottles with the refill plastic bags.
Avoid any produce that is sold in one-time use plastics... this one is the real killer to avoid.

:cheers:
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Edit: a lot of the posts on this thread don't exactly fit into the title.
"Avoid any produce that is sold in one-time use plastics". What about the refill plastic bags for your shampoo? I bet they're not recyclable, or at least not recycled because it's too difficult. Probably the plastic bottles are more easily recycled.
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Re: RE: Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

Post by Ginjaninja »

hhinner wrote: Tue Jun 05, 2018 12:58 pm"Avoid any produce that is sold in one-time use plastics". What about the refill plastic bags for your shampoo? I bet they're not recyclable, or at least not recycled because it's too difficult. Probably the plastic bottles are more easily recycled.
Good point!
I shall investigate further....
:cheers:
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

Post by MDMK »

I buy all my toiletries just over the border in Germany and the refill bags of shower gel, washingup liquid and washing machine liquid I buy all have that symbol which means they are recyclable
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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^ I'm very glad to hear Germany has moved to share borders with Thailand.... I can't wait to ride on the autobahn....
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

Post by MDMK »

Clarification on above post.... I dont actually know if those plaatics ARE actually recycled. All I definitely know is I am allowed to put them in my plastic recycling bin. What the council then does with them I don't know.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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The point being Mr Smart Arse. If a plastic container is recyclable in Germany. It is reyclable here too.
Last edited by MDMK on Tue Jun 05, 2018 2:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

Post by HHTel »

Some of the bags found in the whale had the recyclable symbol!
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

Post by buksida »

Most of the 'recyclable' stuff here was previously sold to China - Thailand itself doesn't do much. Since the Chinese have said you can keep your own plastics, the cost per kilo of certain materials has plummeted which is why the 'recyclers' who came round to collect bottles and plastic no longer bother since it is no longer profitable. This needs to change but at the moment Thailand's priorities seem to be elsewhere - ie taxing the shit out of everything and maintaining a tight grip of control.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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MDMK wrote: Tue Jun 05, 2018 2:05 pm The point being Mr Smart Arse. If a plastic container is recyclable in Germany. It is reyclable here too.
Ah, not necessarily so. The symbol SHOULD also have a number of between 1--7 that indicates what the material is made of, and some materials require a process that may not be available here.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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NATIONAL PARKS BAN PLASTIC, STYROFOAM

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2018 ... styrofoam/

BANGKOK — Sorry, you can no longer bring that 7-Eleven Big Gulp and som tam foam plate to enjoy at the waterfall.

All 154 national parks nationwide from now will ban plastic containers and styrofoam, the National Parks Department announced Friday morning.

The restriction also applies to zoos throughout the country including the Dusit, Khao Keaw, Chiang Mai and Nakhon Ratchasima zoos.

The ban comes days after top tourism official Weerasak Kowsurat urged officials to reduce plastic use.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

Post by Big Boy »

I still see these wonderful instructions and wonder who is going to enforce them? I'm sorry, but it all comes down to the same thing - no proper policing of anything except revenue collection roadblocks. Will they search every person/vehicle that enters a park? Parks are massive - how will they know?

Surely they need to chop the head off this monster to kill it. Ban the sale at source, full stop.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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There is an article today somewhere that IKEA will not use single use plastic in any of it's operations effective ????, perhaps 2020. I'll try to find the article when I can. Pete :cheers:
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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Rotten attitude for sure. :banghead: Pete :cheers:

NOTE: This is a "I rest my case..." moment for you BB. :(

PLASTIC HERE TO STAY, VENDORS AT ‘MODEL’ MARKET SAY

"BANGKOK — Days after an environment minister declared a famous fresh market would reduce plastic and Styrofoam use, vendors said Tuesday it was a pipe dream staged for the cameras.

Merchants at the Or Tor Kor Market said on World Environment Day that despite the environment minister announcing last week their market would be a model for reduced plastic and Styrofoam use, switching to use eco-friendly materials was not going to happen.

“It’s impossible. There’s no replacement for plastic,” Noi Sriprasert, 27, who sells mhon thong durian on Styrofoam trays wrapped in plastic at the Khun Lek Durian shop. “Paper is too weak and thin. It won’t hold the durians in a nice shape. They’d get damaged.”.... Full story and photos at link: .....

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2018 ... arket-say/
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