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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/07/thailand-bans-imports-plastic-waste-curb-toxic-pollution>
"Thailand has banned plastic waste imports over concerns about toxic pollution,
as experts warn that failure to agree a global treaty to cut plastic waste will
harm human health.
A law banning imports of plastic waste came into force this month in Thailand,
after years of campaigning by activists. Thailand is one of several south-east
Asian countries that has historically been paid to receive plastic waste from
developed nations. The country became a leading destination for exports of
plastic waste from Europe, the US, the UK and Japan in 2018 after China, the
world’s biggest market for household waste, imposed a ban.
Japan is one of the biggest exporters of waste plastic to Thailand, with about
50m kg exported in 2023.
Thai customs officials said more than 1.1m tonnes of plastic scraps were
imported between 2018 and 2021.
Penchom Sae-Tang, the director of the NGO Ecological Alert and Recovery, said:
“The ban on all plastic scrap imports should be seen as a triumph for civil
society in preventing hazardous waste entering Thailand.” But she warned
vigilant monitoring and robust cooperation with authorities would be vital to
make sure the ban was enforced.
Imports of plastic were often mismanaged in Thailand, with many factories
burning the waste rather than recycling it, leading to damage to human health
and the environment.
Punyathorn Jeungsmarn, a plastics campaign researcher at the Environmental
Justice Foundation, said: “While this is a great step forward for Thailand,
there is more work to be done. After the law comes into effect, the Thai
government must work to ensure its enforcement and implementation. This means
industrial, environmental and customs agencies must cooperate to prevent any
illicit imports of plastic waste … the current law does not address the transit
of plastic waste, meaning Thailand could be used as a transit state to send
waste to our … neighbours. The Thai government must guard against this.”
The ban comes into force as discussions continue in an attempt to rescue the
global plastic waste treaty. Last year nations failed to agree the final
wording of the treaty after talks in Busan. More than 100 countries supported a
draft text that included legally binding global reductions in plastic
production, which stands at more than 400m tonnes annually, and phasing out
certain chemicals and single-use plastic products.
But the resistance of oil-producing countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran and
Russia to cuts in production led negotiators to concede defeat.
Prof Steve Fletcher, the director of the Revolution Plastics Institute at the
University of Portsmouth, said a failure to agree a treaty to end plastic
pollution was a threat to human health.
“Plastic pollution is now recognised as not only an environmental crisis but
also a critical human health crisis. The need for decisive international action
to tackle plastic pollution has never been more urgent,” he said."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
