Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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

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The popular items you will no longer be able to get at IKEA

https://au.news.yahoo.com/popular-items ... 27134.html

Swedish homeware giant IKEA has announced it will phase out all single-use plastic products by 2020 across its stores worldwide.

It comes as the furniture retailer announced plans to use only renewable and recycled materials in its products by 2030.
Inter IKEA, the owner of the brand best known for its low-cost flat-pack furniture, said on Thursday it aimed to reduce the climate impact of each of its products by more than two thirds by the end of next decade.

The announcement revealed the store will stop selling single-use plastic products including straws, plates, cups, freezer bags, garbage bags, and plastic-coated paper plates and cups.

The change will also come into effect across Ikea’s restaurants which will stop giving out plastic straws, cups, plates, cutlery, drink stirrers and plastic containers for freshly prepared food.

Currently, 60 per cent of the Ikea range is based on renewable materials, while nearly 10 percent contain recycled materials, an Inter IKEA spokeswoman said.

“Through our size and reach we have the opportunity to inspire and enable more than one billion people to live better lives, within the limits of the planet,” Inter IKEA CEO Torbjorn Loof said in a statement to accompany the company’s 2030 sustainability strategy document.

“We are committed to taking the lead, working together with everyone – from raw material suppliers all the way to our customers and partners.”

Inter IKEA joins a growing list of global companies striving to make their operations more environmentally sustainable, although there are question marks over whether enough are taking action and whether they should be doing more.

The world’s 250 biggest listed companies account for a third of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions, but few have concrete goals to limit rising temperatures, a Thomson Reuters Financial & Risk white paper concluded in October.

Raw materials account for most of Ikea’s greenhouse gas emissions and, along with extending the potential lifespan of its products, is where Ikea sees the biggest opportunities for reducing its impact on the environment.

Along with phasing out non-recycled plastic, the company will implement changes ranging from greener glue in particleboard and more vegetarian food in its restaurants to a new candle recipe, Loof told Reuters.

Inter IKEA’s plan is the first to target all Ikea stores – the bulk of which are run by IKEA Group, but some of which are run by other franchisees – as well as the supply chain.

In total, there are 418 IKEA stores across 49 markets. Retail sales in the year through August 2017 were a combined $59.3 billion.

The announcement comes the same week leading Australian supermarkets Coles and Woolworths pledged to reduce the use of plastic in stores.

Woolies announced it would be banning the sale of plastic straws by year’s end while Coles said it would reduce plastic wrapping on fruit and vegetables, including bunches of bananas, kale and silver beet, and replace meat and poultry packaging with recycled and renewable materials.
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Re: RE: Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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PeteC wrote: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/
Thank goodness for plastic trays and cling film!. Before they were invented nobody even thought about selling durian, or anything else, in a market. Maybe Thailand didn't even have markets!
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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Thailand eyes 50 percent cut of plastic garbage in seas in 9 years
Thailand aims to reduce plastic in the seas by 50 percent in the next nine years and to cut down the use of plastic bags among the Thai people to only two bags per person per day instead of an average of eight plastic bags a day, said Mr Chatuporn Burutpat, director-general of Marine and Coastal Resources Department, on Saturday.

Citing the recent death of a pilot whale in the sea of Songkhla after having swallowed eight kilogrammes of plastic bags into its stomach as an inspiration for change about the use of plastic bags, he said the department had mapped out short-term, medium-term and long-term measures to cut back the amount of trash dumped into seas.

According to plan, the short-term measure concerns cooperation among Asean member countries to reduce the amount of trash in the seas in the region as agreed at a meeting held in November last year. Mr Chatuporn said his department would cooperation with civic groups to solve the problem of garbage on beaches.

The medium-term measure aims to make 24 important beaches in 15 coastal provinces free from trash and cigarette butts which will help save life of rare marine species many of which have died from swallowing plastic bags floating in the sea.

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/thaila ... s-9-years/


Dream on - the only way to reduce it is to stop producing more of it. They need to do what they do with everything else they dont like and impose a plastic tax. This is the only way it will stop the market melons in the article above dishing out tons of the stuff every year.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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Another 'pipe dream'. Without any laws regarding single use plastic (with enforcement) then absolutely nothing will change.
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Re: RE: Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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hhinner wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 4:17 pm Thank goodness for plastic trays and cling film!. Before they were invented nobody even thought about selling durian, or anything else, in a market. Maybe Thailand didn't even have markets!


That's got my vote for the Statement of the Year on here! :thumb: Pete :cheers:
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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Some disturbing photos at the link. I'm afraid we'll have more incidents like this than we can count in upcoming years. :( :( :( Pete

Trash-filled turtle highlights ocean crisis
Published: 11/06/2018 at 02:47 PM
Online news: AFP https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/enviro ... ean-crisis

Startling images of plastic shreds, rubber bands and other debris found jammed in the stomach of a green turtle in Chanthaburi have highlighted the crisis of waste-strewn seas following the widely publicised death of a whale this month.

Thailand is one of the world's largest consumers of plastic, which kills hundreds of marine mammals and reptiles swimming off its coasts every year.

The problem grabbed public attention in the first week of June when an autopsy of a dead pilot whale found near the border with Malaysia revealed 80 plastic bags inside its stomach.

The green turtle, a protected species, suffered a similar fate after washing up on a beach in the eastern province of Chanthaburi on June 4, Weerapong Laovechprasit, a veterinarian at the Eastern Marine and Coastal Resource Research and Development Centre, told AFP.

Plastic, rubber bands, pieces of balloon and other rubbish had filled the turtle's intestinal tract, leaving it unable to eat and causing its death two days later.

"It was feeling weak and couldn't swim," Mr Weerapong said. "The main cause of death is the sea trash."

Veterinarians discovered the blockage using X-rays and tried to save the turtle by feeding it intravenously, but were only able to extract the garbage after its death.

Mr Weerapong said that in the past about 10% of the green turtles stranded on beaches in the area had ingested plastic or suffered infections after coming into contact with the waste, but this year about 50% of the incidents were trash-related...... ( more story and photos at link)
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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McDonalds in the UK is switching from plastic to paper drink straws in September. An unbelievable quantity of 1.8 million straws used just in the UK daily. Worldwide it must be well over 100 million per day. Good for them. High hopes the Thais copy this one and also do it...quickly! Pete :cheers:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-44492352
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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This article will ruin your day. If you have something fun planned, don't read it until tomorrow. :( What is happening to these birds is happening to the majority of baby turtles the Thai Navy releases into the Gulf IMO, and it's a strong IMO because I personally see the waters where they release most of them. Pete :cry:

Marine plastic: Hundreds of fragments in dead seabirds

New footage of the devastating impact of plastic pollution on wildlife has been captured by a BBC team.

Seabirds are starving to death on the remote Lord Howe Island, a crew filming for the BBC One documentary Drowning in Plastic has revealed.

Their stomachs were so full of plastic there was no room for food......


https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44579422
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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Worth watching. Pete :cheers:


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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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Cheap, virtually indestructible plastics are a by-product of hydrocarbon fuels, if we weren't using the oil for fuel, those plastics wouldn't be economically viable.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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Sadly the sellers at the Or Tor Gor market are just too lazy to go back to traditional ways.

To keep those dried food fresh, at least when I was a lot younger in Singapore, they used to have huge glass bottles, and would measure out whatever quantity you wanted there and then into a paper bag.

It's too convenient to put these products into pre-packed plastic bags then wait for customers while playing games on your mobile phone..
But I digress..

With regard to other food, you went to market with a basket. Vendors back then would wrap fresh meat in banana leaf. Cooked food was wrapped in another kind of leaf and tied with rattan twine. Hot liquids were put into condensed milk cans and the rattan twine through the hole in the middle of the lid.

If you were going to buy hot food, you typically went with your 'tingkat' (Malay word for layer or storey). The Thais call this 'pinto'.It was either enamelware or (Thai) silver.
No plastic back then.
Bottled drinks came in glass bottles which were duly collected and reused time and time again. Manufacturers just use plastic as it is more convenient - no collection, then examining the bottles for contaminants, before sending them to get washed..
And then, and only then.. Refilled.
The toys were made of tin, not plastic. You wound them up, and off they went. Cars, trains, mechanical dolls.. though country of origin was the same..

Yes, the amount of rubbish annoys me, and I make it a point to refuse plastic whenever I can. I also point this out to the sellers to the point that at least around my village, they have started asking customers if they want the plastic bag.. Includes the mini Big C and the mini Lotus.

I typically wear trousers with many pockets and the bicycle has a basket so I try and do my part not just from a personal point of view, but also try to 'educate' the retailers.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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I guess every little helps, so well done to Bluport, but I wonder what happens on 4th July?
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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London 28 June: An explosive report from the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) reveals that efforts to recycle plastic are a major cause of the marine litter problem. The report, written by public health expert Dr Mikko Paunio, sets out the case for incinerating waste rather than trying to recycle it.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/06/28/ ... ter-worse/
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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It is a never ending circle. Easiest solution is to ban plastic or at least some products made of plastic as the likes of South Africa, Uganda, Somalia, Rwanda, Botswana, Kenya & Ethiopia all have total bans in place for plastic bags. China has total bans in effect regards plastic bags since June 1st 2008. Bangladesh introduced a strict ban in 2002.

Not one western country has made any real progress in even banning plastic bags, I doubt Thailand will do anything in my lifetime. Taxing their use does little if anything to reduce their use.
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Re: Tips for recycling and reducing plastic use in Thailand

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StevePIraq wrote: Sat Jun 30, 2018 5:07 pm It is a never ending circle. Easiest solution is to ban plastic or at least some products made of plastic as the likes of South Africa, Uganda, Somalia, Rwanda, Botswana, Kenya & Ethiopia all have total bans in place for plastic bags. China has total bans in effect regards plastic bags since June 1st 2008. Bangladesh introduced a strict ban in 2002.

Not one western country has made any real progress in even banning plastic bags, I doubt Thailand will do anything in my lifetime. Taxing their use does little if anything to reduce their use.
I don’t believe that is correct Steve - since the UK introduced charging for plastic bags at the checkout, useage has dropped by almost 85%.
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