Environment and natural resources
Pollution and waste
Greenpeace proposes widespread collection fee to drive push against disposables
Greenpeace has proposed an indiscriminately-implemented collection fee as a means to eradicate single-use plastic bags and containers from disposal, as well as to establish an independent fund for rehabilitation of Thailand’s seas. The popular environmental group’s proposal comes on the heels of the deaths of two ...
Deal with the stink, HCMC tells waste management firms
HCMC on Saturday asked three major waste treatment companies to quickly find solutions to deal with the stench they produced. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment asked Vietnam Waste Solutions (VWS), Green Saigon Biotech and Hoa Binh Environment Service companies, all operating within the Da ...
Huu Nguyen
Myanmar’s lifeblood in peril
The Ayeyarwady River, dubbed the lifeblood of Myanmar and home to a threatened species of dolphin, is being suffocated by tonnes of plastic being dumped into it every day. It has been ranked the ninth most polluted river in the world, behind the Philippines’ Pasig ...
Kyaw Soe Htet
Waste: A matter that needs to be resolved
When Cambodians discovered there were 83 shipping containers filled with rubbish disguised as recyclable plastic waste shipped from the US and Canada, they were outraged. With waste management already a problem throughout the country, the last thing Cambodia needed was waste from another country. “Cambodia is not ...
Hull researchers head to the Mekong to tackle plastic pollution
The Mekong River in Southeast Asia is one of the world’s great waterways, fertile and ecologically diverse with millions relying on it for their food, but it’s increasingly clogged with plastic pollution. To help address the mounting problem, a team of researchers from the University of ...
Thomas Barrett
Poisonous e-waste dump cleared, leaving stench of corruption
Piles of industrial and electronic waste dumped in protected forest in the eastern province of Sa Kaew were cleared on Wednesday, making way for the Pollution Control Department to soon move in to check whether toxic residues would endanger the health of local residents. Grateful the ...
Ninety tonnes of plastic a day dumped in Ayeyarwady
About 90 tonnes of plastic waste a day are dumped in the Ayeyarwady River and another 29 tonnes in the Yangon River, said Friedor Jeske, waste management expert at Thant Myanmar. “Almost 90 tonnes of plastic trash go into the Ayeyarwady, mostly hard plastic materials, packing ...
Hoi An faces pollution crisis
The first signs that Hoi An could be heading for an over-tourism crisis are surfacing on Facebook Page comments. Billed as one of Vietnam’s pristine World Heritage sites, Hoi An’s tourism success could backfire due to a failure to tackle pollution. The tiny lanes lined with wooded ...
The Waste Land
Sitting outside the recycling facility that houses her business and family, Kim Mouy, 51, who also goes by Mae Kamouy, watches over her workers as they churn through Phnom Penh’s trash. She is perched upon a wooden stump opposite an unstable heap of black plastic – ...
Evie Breese and Thim Rachna
Thailand's famed 'Rose of the North' is wilting
This 700-year-old city nestled in a green valley of northern Thailand has long enjoyed a story-book reputation for its myriad Buddhist monasteries and charming wooden homes, the delicate manners of its citizens and a tranquillity hardly ruffled by its temple bells. More than 10 million tourists ...
Denis D. Gray