From a mouth-watering serving of <i>som tam</i> to a simple can of Coke, plastic bags have earned a reputation as the primary container for food and other goods among Thais. Either consciously or unconsciously, plastic has become a decades-long addiction with complete disregard to the environment, as these bags are ubiquitous nationwide.
Thais seem content to use plastic bags from street vendors, supermarkets and convenience stores, no matter how small the purchased item.
Thailand recently found itself in the global media spotlight yet again after a pilot whale died in the southern province of Songkhla after ingesting 80 plastic bags weighing 8kg. Public attention erupted further when a turtle was found jammed with plastic shreds, rubber bands and debris in Chanthaburi province.
Such tragedies highlight the protracted plastic problem that the country has faced for decades. Without any serious environmental reform, stringent laws or effective waste management to tackle the widespread use of plastic, Thailand's beautiful natural landscapes, marine animals and public well-being are all at risk.
Worldwide, 8 million tonnes of plastic bottles, packaging and other waste is dumped into the ocean every year, killing marine life and entering the human food chain, the UN Environment Programme said in December.
Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam dump more plastic into the oceans than the rest of the world combined, according to Ocean Conservancy, a Washington-based non-profit organisation.
Some countries, including Britain and India, are banning straws and single-use bags and forcing supermarkets to impose levies on plastic bags, while Kenya last year enacted the world's toughest law against plastic bags, according to Reuters.
"Without specific goals for reducing plastic consumption and more effective waste management, people do not know what to do, even if they want to do more," said Tara Buakamsri, country director for Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
It all begs the question of whether the government is doing enough to discourage plastic bag usage and improve waste management -- and whether the people themselves are negligent towards proper waste disposal and environmental responsibility.
Seeking ideal reform
Among the key findings in the UN Environment Programme report titled "Single-Use Plastics: A Roadmap for Sustainability" was that government levies and bans -- where properly planned and enforced -- have been among the most effective strategies to limit overuse of disposable plastic products.
But the report goes on to cite the need for broader cooperation from business and private-sector stakeholders, offering a roadmap for upstream solutions, including extended producer responsibility and incentives for adoption of a more circular approach to plastic production and consumption.
Shortly after the coup on May 22, 2014, the military-led government set up 11 national reform panels to deal with 11 problems in Thailand -- one of them dedicated to the issue of natural resources and the environment.
That panel has finished drafting a 522-page plan to be used as guidelines for making Thailand an eco-friendly country, ensuring sustainability and encouraging public participation in protecting the environment.
According to the five-year plan, one measure is to increase waste management capacity to 70% in the next five years, compared with 43% at the current level.
But Penchome Sae-tang, director of Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand, said the national reform plan on natural resources and the environment will struggle because the plan is carried out under old practices and concepts.
"Reform on the environment will not happen if the situation has not yet reached the deepest bottom," Ms Penchome said. "It means we will keep seeing a poorer environment, caused by the government's industrial investment policy to facilitate economic growth."
She said the government is reluctant to issue environmental laws that force people to contribute less garbage, such as a tax on plastic bags.
Police found containers filled with plastic waste imported from the US at Ladkrabang Industrial Estate.
Nanticha Ocharoenchai, a writer at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said: "If we don't take action on these environmental issues, they will continue to impact our daily lives, whether consuming seafood that ingested plastics, to drinking contaminated water, to experiencing floods due to clogged drainage."
For the five months through May, Thailand imported 212,000 tonnes of plastic waste, up dramatically from 145,000 tonnes for all of 2017, and 52,200 tonnes of e-waste, compared with 64,400 tonnes last year, said Chaiyut Kumkun, a spokesman for the Customs Department. Thailand imports such waste for recycling, Mr Chaiyut said.
After China's ban on plastic and e-waste imports, waste has shifted here, he said.
Bioplastics solution
Suphan Mongkolsuthree, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said each company in the federation will help raise the public's consciousness about the environmental damage from plastic bags and work to curb the problem through smarter waste management.
In 2017, Thailand produced more than 27.4 million tonnes of rubbish. Of that, 12% or 2 million tonnes was plastic waste dumped in the country by Thais, but only one-fourth or 500,000 tonnes was recycled through correct procedures, according to a report by the Marine and Coastal Resources Department.
The remaining plastic waste ended up in sewers, canals, rivers or the sea.
"Thailand is among the top five countries in terms of plastic waste dumped into the sea and other bodies of water [an estimated 1 million tonnes], following China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam," Mr Suphan said, citing a University of Georgia study.
Paradorn Chulajata, chairman of the FTI's plastics industry club, said Thailand has yet to draw a concrete method of plastic waste management, prompting the FTI with 20 businesses and state agencies to roll out a "plastic waste killer" campaign aimed at cutting plastic waste in half by 2027. The campaign was initiated on the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5.
Mr Paradorn said the initial phase will raise Thai people's awareness about reducing plastic use.
"The club expects Thai people to be more concerned about less plastic usage and reused plastic bags over the next three years," he said, adding that the expectation is for plastic waste to drop 20-30% by 2021.
A shopper carries cloth bag while shopping at a supermarket. THANARAK KHUNTON
Communities in Bangkok's Klong Toey district and in Rayong province are set to be pilot locations for raising awareness about plastic waste.
But Mr Paradorn acknowledged that generating awareness on its own will not be enough to achieve the club's initial target. The club plans to call for plastic manufacturers to join the campaign and introduce bioplastic bags for wet trash such as food leftovers, vegetables and fruits.
"Though bioplastic trash bags are costly, they can be used for organism wastes and compostable wastes," he said. "Currently, bioplastic is used in limited places with compostable waste management, but the club plans for widespread usage at the national level very soon because it is the best solution to start separating types of trash for Thai people."
Mr Paradorn said bioplastic bags were used for waste management on Koh Samet in Rayong a few years ago, but the pilot project was put off because there was no agency continuing the initiative.
Therefore, he said, all stakeholders should cooperate because the process remains in the nascent stage of changing Thai people's mindset on waste management.
Moreover, other agencies such as city planning organisations and property development companies should brainstorm ideas in terms of future building designs and plans associated with internal waste management within an enclosure.
"In many developed countries, they have high technology for managing wet trash in homes or condominiums," Mr Paradorn said. "For example, grinding food trash to be more compostable or installing a special pipeline for wet trash [are methods used in developed countries]. But this solution should be part of a long-term outlook, because it means massive spending on technology."
Wide-ranging industry
Mr Paradorn said there are hundreds of plastic bag manufacturers, from small firms with revenue of 10 million baht to big corporations with revenue of 4-5 billion baht.
Plastic-related manufacturers number about 3,000 in Thailand, according to the plastics industry club.
Business operators have to deal with changing people's mindset in the future, Mr Paradorn said, noting that the trend of saying no to plastic bags is on the rise.
"I think they [operators] have many good solutions, such as improving eco-friendly products and looking for a new plastic business that is competitive," he said. "Plastic bags are not the complete annihilators, but using them without concern for the environment is damaging our world."
Retailer initiatives
Nattakit Tangpoonsinthana, executive vice-president for marketing at Central Pattana Plc (CPN), the developer of Central shopping complexes, said the company is considering setting up an organisation specifically responsible for garbage separation.
The government has said it will encourage companies and big builders with tax privileges to install specific bins for each type of garbage in order to make recycling easier.
"Thailand has been promoting the reduction of plastic usage for a long time but has not been completely successful," Mr Nattakit said. "In places like Taiwan and Hong Kong, 7-Eleven convenience stores have successfully reduced the use of plastic by charging for plastic bags. We should look to implement a similar strategy here."
CPN, led by Central Festival Eastville, is planning to join with all business units under Central Group to to reduce plastic bag usage at retail outlets in the third and fourth quarter of this year.
Salinla Seehaphan, corporate affairs director at Tesco Lotus, said the retailer has chosen to incentivise customers to refuse plastic bags at checkouts in exchange for "green points" redeemable for discounts and other privileges.
The company introduced the reward system in 2010. Customers receive 20 green points for every transaction for which they refuse to take a plastic bag, except on Wednesdays when they receive 150 green points.
To date, more than 100 million bags have been saved and more than 3 billion green points awarded to shoppers.
"Customers have been receptive to the programme, as we see the number of green points rising year-on-year, showing that people are becoming more aware of the harm of plastic," Ms Salinla said, adding that Tesco Lotus also operates a no-plastic-bag store at Tesco Lotus Express on Nawamintr Road -- testing customer response before considering a bigger move in the future.
Apart from the effort to reduce plastic carrier bags, Tesco Lotus has other initiatives to reduce plastic packaging. For example, replacing plastic film wrap on pork and chicken meat trays with recyclable materials and changing the design of trays to use less packaging.
Piyawan Leelasompop, executive vice-president for marketing at Central Department Store Co Ltd, said the company has been promoting the reduction of plastic bag usage for 10 years through campaigns at all department store branches. Through these initiatives, the use of plastic bags at stores declined by 10-12% a year on average.
At CP All Plc, the operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores, the company has worked with several organisations to stimulate worker, youth and the general public to take part in reducing plastic bag usage for over a decade, said senior vice-president Suwit Kingkaew.
The company also signed a memo- randum of understanding with more than 20 public and private universities for such cooperation, he said.
In addition, the Reduction of Plastic Bags Association has been set up for the first time in the country to reduce plastic bag usage in 17 provinces, drawing 60,850 people from 69 network schools to join in activities.
The scheme aims to reduce plastic bag usage by more than 12 million pieces.
This year, Mr Suwit expects to join with various organisations to promote reduction of plastic bag usage in nature-oriented tourist destinations. The pilot project will be launched with activities held at Koh Lanta this month, before eventually extending to new islands in Satun province.
Mr Suwit said CP All will get the word out about activities via online and offline channels to reach as many people as possible.
"We will promote the campaign via all 7-Eleven stores on Koh Lanta," he said. "We will stop giving small plastic bags, except for hot items."
The company will also install separate garbage bins in front of all 7-Eleven stores to support garbage separation.
Mr Suwit said several countries have been successful in reducing plastic bag usage because the process is enforced by law.
"We have already talked with the government about this and suggested charging for plastic bags at retail stores, similar to what successful countries have done," he said. "The idea, however, has been rejected because the government is worried about the impact on customers."
All-sector alert
Dhana Yantaragowit, deputy director of the Interior Ministry's Local Administration Department, said the government allocates 14 billion baht a year to place waste in landfills across 8,000 municipalities in Thailand.
But the municipalities (excluding Bangkok) can receive only 5 billion baht a year in monthly fees from local households, permitting only 5% of waste to be recycled, Mr Dhana said.
Suwanna Jungrueng, deputy permanent secretary of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, said Bangkok residents use an average of eight plastic bags per day. Some are likely to use even more bags, depending on their lifestyle.
The waste in Bangkok amounts to 10,000 tonnes a day, 13.3% of which is plastic bags.
Prasert Bunsumpun, president of the Thailand Business Council for Sustainable Development, said plastic waste poses an opportunity for potential businesses such as plastic recycling, in the so-called circular economy.
Recycled plastic can be used for refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to generate electricity.
There is a huge amount of waste underground in landfill sites across the country, with an estimated 100 million tonnes available to run an RDF power plant.
Cholanat Yanaranop, president of SCG Chemicals, said his company has gradually halved production of feedstock for single-use plastic products to 20% of its total petrochemical output from 40% more than a decade ago.
Jatuporn Buruspat, director-general of the Marine and Coastal Resources Department, said international communities are now paying more attention to marine debris because the problem threatens marine ecosystems.
According to the department, Thailand produces 120 million pieces of foam and plastic every day and discharges 50,000 tonnes of that trash into the sea each year.
The department has even imposed a ban on dropping cigarette butts at 24 beaches in 15 provinces.
It has also set up a group of clean-up booms to collect rubbish on the water surface at estuaries of the Chao Phraya River in Samut Prakan and the Tha Chin River in Samut Sakhon, Mr Jatuporn said.
"If these pilot projects prove successful, we will expand to other areas nationwide," he said.