Slow progress towards plastic non-proliferation

Today is World Oceans Day. It the week prior, Thailand was making ocean-related headlines around that same world after a pilot whale died of starvation because its stomach was choked with plastic.
Veterinarians in Songkhla spent days trying to save its life but, having watched helplessly as the animal vomited up five large plastic bags, they ultimately failed. The autopsy found 80 more sizeable pieces of plastic in its gut, collectively weighing eight kilograms.
It certainly wasn’t the first such story and it won’t be the last, but marine creatures dying as a result of global plastic pollution will continue to garner headlines. This is the story of mankind steadily and needlessly choking the environment.
In Thailand alone, says the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, more than 300 sea creatures die every year because they mistake plastic for food – whales and dolphins are most susceptible as they seek out jellyfish – or get tangled in meshes of it, as often happens with manatees and turtles. Many a turtle has been strangled or drowned this way or, if they’re lucky, end up carrying the plastic with them for years as their shell grows and is cruelly deformed.
That plastic pollution is killing so many animals is deeply disturbing, as is the fact that the plastic consumed non-fatally by food fish ends up on our plates.
But even more upsetting is the slowness with which our government has responded to Thailand being accused together with China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam of dumping 60 per cent of all the world’s sea-borne plastic waste every year – about eight million tonnes.
Thailand’s reaction so far: the plastic seals in bottle caps were banned in April, and Styrofoam containers will be barred from January 1 – though only at Bangkok’s Or Tor Kor fresh market. 
Convenience store franchisees have also been asked to withhold plastic carrier bags three days a week. Consumers are urged to shun plastic bags if they’re not going to reuse them. (Of course, the plastic in these bags is substandard and was never designed for reuse.)
For the most part, the government is “encouraging” – it’s asking politely. It is wielding neither punishment nor incentives to curb plastic proliferation on a wide scale. Perhaps it’s hoping the habit of lok suay (middle-class optimists, perhaps naive) will become contagious and we’ll all start carrying reusable materials around with us.
Without carrot or stick on offer, though, why would anyone give up all the conveniences of the convenience store, with its plastic bags, water bottles and straws? Why would the posh restaurants stop serving water in one-time-use plastic bottles bearing their name, promoting their brand?
In much of Europe, one-time-use plastic is now thoroughly frowned upon. In Germany where I’m working, almost everyone carries a personal water bottle. People often leave home with a non-plastic bag to fill with their daily purchases.

Climate change
One afternoon my German teacher, giving us a tour of the former East Berlin, brought along a bag so big that I asked if he was off for the weekend later. No, it was his daily “pack”, containing necessities such as a shopping tote, thermos of coffee, mug and pullover. There was no plastic in sight.
The Germans I have met are acutely aware of climate change, pollution and the overuse of disposable items. My teacher had various reasons for his pack, but mainly it was so he would be contributing not one more disposable cup to the billions being used every year.
In Freiburg, Germany, for the past two years, many beverage shops have charged customers a one-euro deposit on takeaway plastic cups and they get it back when the cup is returned. The system is keeping plastic bottles and cups in circulation – and not in the landfills or the sea.
France last year passed a law that will see all plastic cups, cutlery and plates banned in 2020.
Efforts like these happen despite the fact that plastic and the water in plastic bottles are cheap. It’s because citizens realise the environment is irreplaceable and they spur their governments to action.
None of this is actually new, of course – even in Thailand. Using plastic wasn’t common practice here until just recently. I remember my mother carrying an empty rattan basket to the market every morning and returning with the basket full of purchases – none of which sat inside packaging, by the way. I remember as a girl paying a deposit on bottles of soda, which made sure the bottle was always returned.
Call me naive. Call me an optimist or an idealist. But I do miss the good old days before the onslaught of plastic and Styrofoam.

Sirinya Wattanasukchai is a veteran journalist who writes on city issues. She is currently researching urban development in Berlin as part of the International Journalists’ Programme.