Plastic

A female waste picker’s simple dream is, in its own way, part of a much bigger plan toward a plastic-free future for Vietnam. 

In Southeast Asia, artists are transforming the region's trash into a source of inspiration. With over a million of tonnes of plastic waste entering the sea annually, these artists are advocating for sustainability through their work. They redefine beauty from discarded objects, addressing pollution issues creatively, inviting audiences to rethink their relationship with waste and embrace a more responsible approach to consumption.

An abundance of plastic is overwhelming our environment and threatening our health. There is a clear absence of gender-considerate approaches, even though women are significantly discriminated against, due to their increased exposure via household labor, work in the plastics industry, and use of menstrual plastic products. Female-led solutions to recycling and unpacking gender norms can contribute greatly to addressing this issue, though it remains a problem for everyone to deal with.

Urgent action is needed to deal with plastic litter in the ocean – and a sea change is occurring on this front. Some countries in Southeast Asia are developing plans of action for policy reform as a notable first step.  Legal frameworks that support the shift towards a circular economy approach in plastics, spur systemic changes in production and consumption, and promote positive individual behavior would help address the longer-term problem.

Quick and Easy Choices to Avoid Plastic: The best way to deal with waste is not to create it in the first place. Each year, almost 30 million tonnes of solid waste is generated in Thailand. In Bangkok alone, more than 10.000 tonnes of trash is collected each day, approximately 20% is plastic waste. With a little bit of consciousness, you can already make a big difference - quick and easy! And if you do create trash, be responsible and separate, because sorting is key!

Is plastic a topic that is also discussed among youth in Thailand? What to expect from politicians and why should consumer culture change? Chompupischaya Saiboonyadis shares how she got into environmental activism and what needs to be done about plastic pollution, waste management and the circular economy.

Campus zero waste programs are a popular way to raise awareness about environmental issues and lifestyle choices with university students. At one campus in Thailand, former student Nicha Wachpanich digs deeper to show how students, staff and the university have different stakes in the waste problem.

Despite the Thai government’s ban of four more types of single-use plastics in 2022, up to 250,000 tonnes of imported plastic waste from other nations continues to flow into the country annually through the international plastic waste trade. Thailand is trying to stay the course with further efforts to mitigate plastic pollution, but there are still challenges in waste sorting and collection on the ground.

Several cities and provinces in Vietnam are reopening after a so-called tragic fourth wave of COVID-19. Along with societal and economic losses, waste generated from daily routines and medical facilities has become a huge consequence and the country must learn how to deal with the overwhelming waste.

Some may think that addressing sustainability - whether plastic use or climate change - can come after economic recovery from COVID-19. But they are not separate issues at all.

Bangkokians rarely sort trash, often leaving soup-splashed, rotting, toxic messes on the street for garbage collectors and scavengers, who are only able to resell a fraction to be recycled. The environmentally-conscious who do sort their waste must send specific types of material to volunteer initiatives out of their own pocket. Some of these initiatives have diverted plastic into recyclable items, including PPE suits for frontline health workers, even as the capital drowns in COVID-19 and plastic.

While Thailand has prioritized measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, environmental concerns have been sidelined. Despite an overall reduction in waste, the amount of plastic and harmful microplastics have skyrocketed in the kingdom, with a weak pre-existing waste sorting and management system.

A series of succinct articles and infographics providing an overview of the key issues behind Asia’s plastic pollution crisis.

Single-use plastics have been in the spotlight for the past years because of its impact on our environment. It pollutes throughout its lifecycle beginning from extraction, refining, and ending in their disposal in the oceans and waterways, soil, and in the air we breathe through burning or incineration. In fact, it does not only impact our environment but also our health, livelihoods, food and wildlife. Further, plastics do not biodegrade. Instead they slowly break down into smaller pieces of plastic called microplastics. 

Today, the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Break Free From Plastic movement have published the international English edition of the Plastic Atlas, holding launch events in the European Parliament in Brussels (quotes EC-FVP Frans Timmermans, MEP Bas Eickhout further down), and in Washington D.C. and Manila.

Plastic waste is considered a global environment problem and Vietnam has been listed as one of the heaviest countries struck by it in the world. Some actions have been implemented to fight against the issue such as “White pollution”. However, changing awareness and behavior remain biggest challenges.

Plastic is a brilliant invention. Through its uses in medicine, public health and in urban planning, it has likely saved many lives. A right relationship with it begins with acknowledging the importance of plastic. At the same time, a lot of the ways we use plastic today is non-essential. In fact, one could argue that by designing plastic to be used in such a careless and thoughtless way is disrespectful of the invention itself. It could be out there saving lives, but instead it is used to carry potato chips for 12 minutes. It is not the plastic that is the problem, but the way we choose to design it, source it, produce it and use it.

Like in any other country, plastic is widely used and it is everywhere to be found in the Lao PDR, a landlocked country in Southeast Asia with a population of 7 million people. Plastic has become part of our modern life. Yet as omnipresent as it is, our ever-increasing reliance on single-use plastics, our throwaway culture and poor waste management system have created a huge problem.

The only way to improve the global problem of plastic is for environmental stewardship by every individual, company and government on earth. That requires an understanding that helping the planet goes beyond saying no to straws and plastic bags, good though that first step may be.

We all know that plastics crisis endangers our future, especially for the next generation. We have to do something starting from now, even it is just a small step. Be more responsible and mind your consumption pattern. Let this movement against single-use plastics become bigger and bigger so it would be heard by the government and industries and could pressure them to make impactful actions for a better future.