Thailand Pushes Forward Projects to Cut Plastic Waste

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The government of Thailand seems to boost efforts to cut plastic waste. It must be noted that the efforts had witnessed slowdown during the Covid-19 pandemic period.

Thailand had initiated a policy to ban single-use plastic bags in 2018, by preventing retailers from handing them out to shoppers for free with effect from 2020. However, the widespread adoption of home delivery following the outbreak of the virus and the lockdowns that followed it, boosted demand for plastic bags and Styrofoam containers.

RELATED NEWS:

Plastic Recycling Project Launched in Kakuma

Cyprus' Beaches are Coated with Plastic

As a result, the plastic waste surged higher by 62% from 2.12 million tonnes in 2019 to 3.4 million tonnes in 2020, said data released by the Thailand Environment Institute. The total amount of plastic waste recorded 3% surge from 24.9 million tonnes in 2021to nearly 25.7 million tonnes last year.

According to Thailand Development Research Institute, Thailand was ranked tenth among nations that dumped most volumes of plastic waste into seas in 2020.

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) had implemented the Smart Recycling Hub project to build a material recovery facility aimed at recycling at least 50,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year. In addition, various projects have been launched by the public and private sector enterprises to deal with solid waste.