Evaluation of Plastic Waste Management in Thailand Using Material ...

and promoting the investment on this kind of plastics. The packaging industry is the
biggest plastic production to supply the food and beverage industries in both of country
and Asian countries. PIT and TPIA also support to increase the biodegradable plastic
production in Thailand. Similarly the petrochemical industry increased the bio-plastic
resins from 10,000 tonnes of bio-plastic resin in 2010 to 75,000 tonnes of bio-plastic resin
in 2013.
Plastic Consumption Stakeholders
Plastic consumers or waste generators are the main stakeholders of this process because
they consume plastic products and then generate plastic wastes depending on their
consumption pattern and behaviors. For example, people may help to reduce the amount of
plastic waste generation by refusing plastic bags or reuse plastic products. Packaging
plastic wastes are generated in communities, department stores, minimarts (seven-eleven
shops), and markets. According to field survey, of the 100 households interviewed, 90%
respondents said they use a plastic carry bag only once and throw it as litter, whereas
according to FPRI (2011), 50% of packaging plastics was also used once before disposal in
2011 (FPRI, 2012).
One of the most widely used plastic products is plastic carry bag. On an average, 2-3
plastic bags per day were thrown. Even though people were aware of the recycling
possibility of grocery bags and/or milk bottles, they were not willing to collect such plastic
waste saying their lifestyle (living standard) did not support waste collection. They also
lack space to store large volume of plastic bottles. Thus, they felt easy to throw every
plastic package to waste bins.
Consumers who used recycled plastic products claimed they were satisfied to use recycled
products and biodegradable plastics, but they do not know the actual difference between
conventional products and recycled and bio-plastic products. A label on plastic products
that reads “this bag is degradable” was the only way for them to differentiate between bioplastic
and conventional plastic. The respondents were ready to use bio-plastics instead of
conventional products if there saw a specific label on bio-plastic products, and such
products were easily available at an affordable rate
Non-government organizations (NGOs) sometime support the plastic waste management
by sharing information on the plastic waste reduction and separation. Nevertheless, they
sometime opposed plastic to waste projects.. Green World Foundation and Thailand
Environment Institute (TEI) are the information sharing stakeholders. They shares articles
regarding to global warming, illegal waste dumping, plastic wastes from plastic bags, green
products, and environmental news.
Waste collection and transportation stakeholders
The local administration has a responsibility to provide waste collection and disposal
services. This organization can provide drop-off centers for separated recyclable wastes.
They also provide mixed plastic separation training for interested groups such as waste
generators and collectors. The simple waste collection services which are provided by the
municipalities include waste bins and waste collection trucks. Moreover, the local
administration also has a responsibility to dispose collected wastes as proper as possible.
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