Deal struck to reduce plastics use

Deal struck to reduce plastics use

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) is collaborating with food delivery service providers to reduce the use of single-use plastics.

The two sides signed an agreement on Wednesday aimed at cutting down on discarded single-use plastic items.

The deal was struck in response to the government's policy of ending environmental degradation caused by plastics, in which the MNRE was tasked with implementing a solution from 2018-2030.

The contract signing was presided over by MNRE Minister Varawut Silpa-archa and witnessed by related state agencies and food delivery firms.

Mr Varawut pointed to the surge in demand for food delivery services during the Covid-19 lockdown.

"The amount of plastic waste has substantially increased as food delivered to customers is packaged in plastic bags or food containers," Mr Varawut said. "Notably, the amount of plastic waste has risen to 6,300 tonnes each day from 5,500 tonnes before the pandemic."

The food delivery service providers, meanwhile, pledged to update their applications used by customers to order food. Customers will in future be able to decline single-use plastic containers and bags being used for their food.

An announcement will be made via their platforms about the feature update which will help encourage more people to support the campaigns for eco-friendly food packaging, Mr Varawut said.

Kongkrapan Intarajang, chief executive of PTT Global Chemical, said the company had invested in compostable bioplastics since 2011.

These gave restaurants and consumers a wider and greener choice of food containers, he said.

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