Thailand and the War on Plastic
As we were getting ready to depart the UK nine months ago, people were really waking up to the impact that single-use plastic was having on the environment. We were already very accustomed to the 5p charge for carrier bags in the UK which had seemed very effective, there was general uproar when people realized that disposal coffee cups could not be easily recycled so were inevitably heading to landfill, and then the videos of divers swimming through seas consisting of more plastic than water was making people think.
So being in this mindset, and then arriving in Thailand, where being able to carry everything in your possession in plastic bags is seen as a basic human right, was a bit of a culture shock. I definitely read somewhere that it was almost some kind of law that takeaway food and drink had to be packaged so that the purchaser could carry it with one finger! This means that Thailand has plastic bags in all shapes and sizes for any scenario.
When we first arrived I remember popping into a 7eleven to briefly cool down on my way to the BTS and buying a small bottle of water. Logic suggests that I’m probably just going to drink it immediately and it’s just a small, easy to carry bottle so no need for a plastic bag. But no, of course, I am presented with a tiny bag for my tiny bottle, and let’s throw in a single-use plastic straw for good measure as you couldn’t possibly be expected to drink directly from the bottle.
The excessive and mostly unnecessary use of straws was surprising, although more surprising was how quickly we got used to it. Almost everywhere you went, when you were given a drink, no matter what type of receptacle this drink was in, a straw was always presented. Drinks cans have been specifically designed to drink from directly - you don’t see the bloke in the Diet Coke advert sticking a straw in his can before taking a long swig! In my desperation to fit in and thinking that people might deem me unhygienic for not using the straw, I complied and drank many a canned drink through a straw. And then I started to enjoy using straws so used them at home. As we’d had all our possessions shipped to Thailand we had a pack of plastic straws that I reckon we’d purchased at least 5 years earlier. We’d not seen much need to drink through straws in the UK but in Thailand, we rattled through that pack of straws in just a few months.
We couldn’t bring ourselves to buy more single-use straws so sought out a reusable version which actually was difficult in Thailand. I’d seen people making jokes on social media about saving the world with bamboo straws that needed to be flown in at great expense and emissions, clearly defeating the object of trying to be environmentally friendly. The supermarkets didn’t seem to have cottoned on to the movement for reusable straws just yet, their 'single-use drinks paraphernalia' section was still as prominent as ever. Fortunately, Chris found some metal versions whilst out doing Boots store visits and they’ve served us well so far.
You cannot drink the tap water in Bangkok, not even if you’ve lived here all your life so everyone has bottled water in some form for drinking. There are some vending machines in condo buildings where you can fill up, but from what I’ve heard there’s no guarantee that the machine will be clean and well maintained, so it could end up being riskier than the tap water. When we first moved here we just started buying big bottles from the supermarket but we were quickly amazed at how much plastic rubbish we were generating. And it was such a pain having to keep buying water and almost running out! It’s just one of those things that you don’t want to have to keep constantly thinking about.
Fortunately, within the first few weeks of being here, I visited the condo of a friend who had a water cooler that she’d bought from another expat who had left Bangkok and she explained how easy it was to set up a regular delivery and collection service with Sprinkle. I immediately looked into it, created a small cost-benefit analysis based on a 2 year period (which I'm sure everyone does for important personal matters like this). Amazingly even buying a new machine from Lazada and then signing up for the service with Sprinkle was cheaper than continuing to buy bottled water from the supermarket. And it is so much easier! No more thinking about water!
But you can see how Thailand is going to have a few more plastic bottles than in other countries.
But all is not lost! There are already some pockets of good(ish) practice when it comes to recycling in Thailand. Although there doesn’t seem to be any formal requirement to separate your recyclables, the bin men do actually sort through your rubbish as it’s collected. It’s pretty grim actually but they will open up every bin bag and separate everything. Clearly, there’s money to be made in recycling as there are also unofficial recyclers traveling up and down the Sois, collecting anything that might earn them a few Baht. As we already had many years of separating recyclables drilled into us in the UK, we bought another bin and already separate it for them. We also find that if we want to dispose of shoes, clothes, unwanted furniture etc. we just leave it outside and it will disappear in minutes.
And things are changing. I used to go to meetings at the offices of my main customer, a very well known soft drinks manufacturer and was always presented with a bottle/can and a straw. There is now no straw. The same has happened at the hairdressers - a plastic bottle of course but without the straw.
And I remember when I first start taking my reusable bags to Big C it was a battle with the cashier to make sure they were used. If I wasn’t quick enough my shopping was tripled bagged with green plastic before I knew what was happening. And the suggestion of using my bags was usually met with disdain and sulking, and then refusal to pack my shopping! Now I can just hand them the bags and they happily oblige. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a plastic bag party at the checkout in general but I guess at least I’m doing something.
One recent observation on Twitter was that refusing carrier bags was now resulting in a lack of available bags to use as small bin bags! So now everyone was having to buy single-use plastic bin bags instead! It seems impossible to get this right! But as the bin men are just opening the bags anyway maybe we should just do away with bags altogether?
But if you accept a plastic bag but then reuse it for something with for which you would have needed another plastic bag is that ok? As dog owners, we use biodegradable poo bags (although everything is probably biodegradable if you give it a few million years) which we have shipped to Thailand from the UK (another epic fail). This morning when we took the dogs for their walk I completely forgot to stuff some poo bags in my pocket. When we realised we didn't have that much concern as Chris was quite happy to rummage through a few bins and piles of discarded rubbish to obtain perfectly suitable bags for collecting dog faeces. I now have no idea whether this is better or worse than importing allegedly biodegradable poo bags to Thailand!
So, there's progress but still, some way to go. However, I think the world collectively needs to figure out a real plan as I'm not sure refusing a few plastic bags and straws is going to cut it in the long run.
Culture Shock
So being in this mindset, and then arriving in Thailand, where being able to carry everything in your possession in plastic bags is seen as a basic human right, was a bit of a culture shock. I definitely read somewhere that it was almost some kind of law that takeaway food and drink had to be packaged so that the purchaser could carry it with one finger! This means that Thailand has plastic bags in all shapes and sizes for any scenario.
When we first arrived I remember popping into a 7eleven to briefly cool down on my way to the BTS and buying a small bottle of water. Logic suggests that I’m probably just going to drink it immediately and it’s just a small, easy to carry bottle so no need for a plastic bag. But no, of course, I am presented with a tiny bag for my tiny bottle, and let’s throw in a single-use plastic straw for good measure as you couldn’t possibly be expected to drink directly from the bottle.
Strawpedo
The excessive and mostly unnecessary use of straws was surprising, although more surprising was how quickly we got used to it. Almost everywhere you went, when you were given a drink, no matter what type of receptacle this drink was in, a straw was always presented. Drinks cans have been specifically designed to drink from directly - you don’t see the bloke in the Diet Coke advert sticking a straw in his can before taking a long swig! In my desperation to fit in and thinking that people might deem me unhygienic for not using the straw, I complied and drank many a canned drink through a straw. And then I started to enjoy using straws so used them at home. As we’d had all our possessions shipped to Thailand we had a pack of plastic straws that I reckon we’d purchased at least 5 years earlier. We’d not seen much need to drink through straws in the UK but in Thailand, we rattled through that pack of straws in just a few months.
We couldn’t bring ourselves to buy more single-use straws so sought out a reusable version which actually was difficult in Thailand. I’d seen people making jokes on social media about saving the world with bamboo straws that needed to be flown in at great expense and emissions, clearly defeating the object of trying to be environmentally friendly. The supermarkets didn’t seem to have cottoned on to the movement for reusable straws just yet, their 'single-use drinks paraphernalia' section was still as prominent as ever. Fortunately, Chris found some metal versions whilst out doing Boots store visits and they’ve served us well so far.
Tap Water
You cannot drink the tap water in Bangkok, not even if you’ve lived here all your life so everyone has bottled water in some form for drinking. There are some vending machines in condo buildings where you can fill up, but from what I’ve heard there’s no guarantee that the machine will be clean and well maintained, so it could end up being riskier than the tap water. When we first moved here we just started buying big bottles from the supermarket but we were quickly amazed at how much plastic rubbish we were generating. And it was such a pain having to keep buying water and almost running out! It’s just one of those things that you don’t want to have to keep constantly thinking about.
Fortunately, within the first few weeks of being here, I visited the condo of a friend who had a water cooler that she’d bought from another expat who had left Bangkok and she explained how easy it was to set up a regular delivery and collection service with Sprinkle. I immediately looked into it, created a small cost-benefit analysis based on a 2 year period (which I'm sure everyone does for important personal matters like this). Amazingly even buying a new machine from Lazada and then signing up for the service with Sprinkle was cheaper than continuing to buy bottled water from the supermarket. And it is so much easier! No more thinking about water!
A Hidden Industry
But you can see how Thailand is going to have a few more plastic bottles than in other countries.
But all is not lost! There are already some pockets of good(ish) practice when it comes to recycling in Thailand. Although there doesn’t seem to be any formal requirement to separate your recyclables, the bin men do actually sort through your rubbish as it’s collected. It’s pretty grim actually but they will open up every bin bag and separate everything. Clearly, there’s money to be made in recycling as there are also unofficial recyclers traveling up and down the Sois, collecting anything that might earn them a few Baht. As we already had many years of separating recyclables drilled into us in the UK, we bought another bin and already separate it for them. We also find that if we want to dispose of shoes, clothes, unwanted furniture etc. we just leave it outside and it will disappear in minutes.
And things are changing. I used to go to meetings at the offices of my main customer, a very well known soft drinks manufacturer and was always presented with a bottle/can and a straw. There is now no straw. The same has happened at the hairdressers - a plastic bottle of course but without the straw.
Plastic Bag Party
And I remember when I first start taking my reusable bags to Big C it was a battle with the cashier to make sure they were used. If I wasn’t quick enough my shopping was tripled bagged with green plastic before I knew what was happening. And the suggestion of using my bags was usually met with disdain and sulking, and then refusal to pack my shopping! Now I can just hand them the bags and they happily oblige. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a plastic bag party at the checkout in general but I guess at least I’m doing something.
One recent observation on Twitter was that refusing carrier bags was now resulting in a lack of available bags to use as small bin bags! So now everyone was having to buy single-use plastic bin bags instead! It seems impossible to get this right! But as the bin men are just opening the bags anyway maybe we should just do away with bags altogether?
But if you accept a plastic bag but then reuse it for something with for which you would have needed another plastic bag is that ok? As dog owners, we use biodegradable poo bags (although everything is probably biodegradable if you give it a few million years) which we have shipped to Thailand from the UK (another epic fail). This morning when we took the dogs for their walk I completely forgot to stuff some poo bags in my pocket. When we realised we didn't have that much concern as Chris was quite happy to rummage through a few bins and piles of discarded rubbish to obtain perfectly suitable bags for collecting dog faeces. I now have no idea whether this is better or worse than importing allegedly biodegradable poo bags to Thailand!
So, there's progress but still, some way to go. However, I think the world collectively needs to figure out a real plan as I'm not sure refusing a few plastic bags and straws is going to cut it in the long run.
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