Pollution and waste
Solid waste
The Price of Recycling Old Laptops: Toxic Fumes in Thailand’s Lungs
Crouched on the ground in a dimly lit factory, the women picked through the discarded innards of the modern world: batteries, circuit boards and bundles of wires. They broke down the scrap — known as e-waste — with hammers and raw hands. Men, some with faces ...
Hannah Beech and Ryn Jirenuwat
7kg plastic waste found in dead wild deer
The stomach of a wild deer discovered dead in the Khun Sathan National Park in northern Nan province was found to contain seven kilogrammes of plastic waste, along with underwear. The office of the national park reported on Monday that park rangers found the adult deer ...
Apinya Wipatayotin
Thailand joins EU in bid to tackle marine litter
Thailand is joining hands with six other Asian countries to try and tackle the issue of marine pollution, amid increasing criticism about plastic use in the region. Under a project called “Rethinking Plastics: Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter”, Thailand — along with China, Indonesia, Japan, ...
Thana Boonlert
Thailand to junk three kinds of plastic by end of this year
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 Plastic ...
Dozens of companies launch US$1 billion bid to end plastic pollution in Asia but environmentalists dismiss it as ‘greenwashing’ stunt
The “Alliance to End Plastic Waste” (AEPW) consortium of more than 30 companies launched last month, dedicating a combined total of US$1 billion over the next five years – aiming for US$1.5 billion if more conglomerates join – to develop better plastic recycling practices and ...
Thailand to ban foreign plastic waste from 2021
Thailand plans to stop all imports of foreign plastic scrap by 2021 as it joins other south-east Asian countries looking to stem an influx of waste products that used to be recycled in China. Fleshing out details of the ban, which was initially announced in ...
Southeast Asian nations grapple with worsening plastic trash crisis
China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are dumping more plastic into oceans than the rest of the world combined. Are Southeast Asian nations doing enough to tackle the ever-growing plastic pollution problem? []The website Mekong Eye says that Southeast Asia’s Mekong region is “the world’s single ...
Ban the plastic bottle
Pressure is mounting on hotel chains to join campaigns that will reduce the use of plastic in the hospitality and tourism industry. The Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office’s executive director, Jens Thraenhart, confirmed in his weekly despatch to travel partners that the blight of plastic pollution would ...
Technology can drive green growth in Mekong region
In the last 20 years, rapid economic growth in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) has reduced poverty and brought prosperity to many of its 420 million people. Keep reading ...
PAVIT RAMACHANDRAN
Southeast Asian plastic recyclers hope to clean up after China ban
When Seah Kian Hoe was just 10 years old, he would jump on the back of his parent’s small truck during school holidays and help them collect scrap, going door-to-door around neighborhoods in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor.Keep reading ...
Michael Taylor