THAILAND’S GOAL to gradually eradicate
plastic waste at sea by 80 million to 160 million kilograms a year by
2021, is expected to be affirmed by Jatuporn Burutpat, chief of the
Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, at the upcoming Asean and
China Sea Waste Reduction Meeting, to be held in Phuket from November
22-23.
Jatuporn cited a 2010 study of 192
countries, published in 2015 in a US-based science journal. The study
ranked Thailand as the world’s sixth largest contributor of plastic
waste enters the world’s seas at 1.03 million tonnes per year.
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China, topped the list at 8.82 million tonnes of plastic waste yearly,
followed by Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand,
Egypt, Malaysia, Nigeria and Bangladesh. Since many Asean nations have a
problem with sea waste and had connecting sea-based borders, it was
important for the department to help propel forward a regional
waste-management plan, said Jatuporn.
The countries need to exchange ideas and their experiences dealing with
sea-waste issues, he added, citing Singapore and Malaysia for the
quality of their technology and progress in implementing measures that
could be shared throughout the bloc.
Thailand’s plastic-waste reduction goal is part of the department’s master plan for garbage management (2016-2021).
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The five-parts of the master plan are to study garbage types, amount and
origins to build a database; to reduce the impact of sea waste on key
ecosystems; to reduce the volume of garbage by applying academic
principles and encouraging manufacturers and product distributors to use
environmentally friendly materials; to boost public awareness and
participation in sea waste reduction, especially in coastal provinces;
and to create plastic-free zones to serve as models for use of
alternative materials, Jatuporn said.
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Jatuporn acknowledged headlines about garbage washing ashore in
Thailand’s coastal provinces and commentary about the country’s lack of
effective sea waste management. About 80 percent of sea waste was
actually produced on land, he said, continuing that the upcoming Asian
meeting is expected to table possible measures to reduce garbage at its
origins, in mid-stream, and in downstream areas.
He also hopes to hear about measures to boost public awareness so people would separate trash at home for proper disposal.
Source - TheNation
