Thailand to tackle plastic waste by 2030
The Thai Cabinet has approved a roadmap to tackle plastic waste in the years 2018-2030, and to reduce or end the use of certain types of plastic because of its increasing harm to the environment.
By the end of this year, Thailand will be free from three types of plastic – microbeads, cap seals and oxo-degradable plastics – and from four other types of single-use plastics by 2022, according to a road map that got the Cabinet’s initial nod on Tuesday.
The roadmap includes plans to reduce and ultimately eliminate three types of plastic currently in use. They were identified as bottle seals, OXO-biodegradable plastic and microbeads in 2019.
Besides, the Roadmap also includes quitting the use of four types of plastic in 2022: plastic bags, foam boxes, single-use plastic cups and plastic straws.
According to the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion, Thais generate as much as 1.14 kilogram of garbage per head per day, contributing to the 27.04 million tonnes of waste per year reported The Nation.
The average Thai consumer uses approximately eight plastic bags a day – or 500 million plastic bags per day for the whole nation.
More plastic bags than fish ?
Protecting marine environments is a growing priority in East Asia. In 2016, the World Economic Forum predicted that there would be more ocean plastic waste than fish by 2050 without effective intervention.