Thailand is a beautiful country with amazing people and a place I have called home for some time now, but there is a major problem when it comes to plastic use. January 1, 2020, marked the beginning of a major change in Thailand, nearly 75 major retailers, including popular 7-11 is banning the use of single-use plastic bags.
Reports suggest that as many as 25,000 stores nationwide will no longer be using plastic bags, and instead are encouraging people to purchase or bring their reusable shopping bags.
Thai officials have now said they want to move towards a total ban on plastic bags by 2021 and have implemented a 20-year action plan on reducing plastic.
One of Thailand’s biggest problems with plastic use is plastic cups and straws. Thai people use straws for pretty much everything they drink, including plastic water and soda bottles. The plastic straws are wrapped in plastic and then placed inside a plastic bag to carry out of the store. As for the cups, the popular fresh fruit shakes are always handed out in flimsy plastic cups that easily break apart forming smaller microplastics that end up in our seas or polluting the soil.
Thailand is looking to ban all plastic straws and cups by 2022. While two years may seem like a long time, if you’ve ever been to Thailand and paid attention, this is something that needs to start right now to have any realistic chance of happening.
There have been reports of this kind of action being taken in the past. 7-11 claimed to be implementing a no more plastic bags policy last year, but I’m pretty sure that was only in one store, for pictures and press coverage in Bangkok. I did not see this anywhere else and I reached out to CP executives in an email asking to implement no plastic bags in 7-11’s on Koh Phangan, I never heard back from them.
Minister Varawut Silpa-Archa said the Environment Ministry has invited many Thai partners to join in the campaign to reduce single-use plastic bags.
This cooperation will help Thailand leave the list of major generators of waste and sea garbage, This type of campaign should have been done long ago. We have spent so much time trying to negotiate. At last, we made it. Thailand was ranked sixth among the world’s top countries that dumps waste into the sea. During the past five months, we were down to 10th… thanks to the cooperation of the Thai people.
Years of Conditioning
Thailand uses more than 45 billion single-use plastic bags per year, 40% of which is estimated to come from local markets. Every day millions of locals and tourists alike buy products from these markets and 99.9% of the time everything is placed in plastic bags. Hot food is put in plastic bags, including soup, and then put inside more plastic bags with handles for carrying, fruits are also wrapped in plastic. This needs to stop to make a larger impact on plastic reduction.
How Can You Help
Organizations such as Trash Hero Thailand have clean-ups throughout the country, and each chapter has local businesses that sell stainless steel water bottles. These bottles can be refilled for free everywhere the bottles are sold, throughout the country. Trash Hero also has chapters and programs set up in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, along with Europe, Australia, and now in the U.S. Every country that participates in Trash Hero has free water refill stations. This saves an enormous amount of plastic bottles from floating in our oceans. Check out trashhero.org for further information, downloadable educational materials and videos.
Even if you don’t get a Trash Hero bottle, everyone can take responsibility and have a refillable water bottle rather than buying countless single-use plastic bottles every day.
I would also recommend purchasing or bringing your containers for take-out food from the markets. Or instead of ordering food to go, just wait until you’re hungry and eat at the market. These are just a few small things we can do as individuals to do our part to help the planet. It’s about awareness and caring. Picture a bird choking on your next plastic straw or a whale washing up dead on the shore with a stomach full of plastic bags. Wildlife cannot make the choice, but they are suffering as a result of all this plastic usage.
I hope that not only in Thailand but all across the world people will choose to be more mindful. Plastic is everywhere and it’s almost impossible to avoid, but small changes can end up making a big difference. Please take notice and help make a difference.
