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 endangered dugongs, one of whom was apparently killed by swallowing discarded plastic.
Tara Buakamsri, the Thailand country director for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said the deaths of the animals raised a question about the adequacy of the nation’s official roadmap for Plastic Waste Management. That roadmap, which aimed to reduce the amount of plastic garbage by 0.78 million tonnes annually, received the Cabinet’s nod in April. Would it be enough to prevent such tragedies in the future? Tara wondered.
The 12-year roadmap (2018-2030) addressed the manufacturing stage of plastic waste management, the consumption stage and the post-consumption stage, as well as the challenges due to a lack of legal enforcement mechanisms such as a law to require manufacturers to identify the type of plastic in containers, another to limit single-use plastic bags and containers and another law to promote garbage separation.
