Keep the plastic off our beaches and out of our Oceans....

The nature on this island is as diverse and as beautiful as anywhere in the world.

We at Phanganist HQ like other people on the island make an concerted effort to keep The Crystal Island as gorgeous and natural as it can be.

One of the things that everyone can help with, which is so quick and easy there is no excuse not to get involved….discarded PLASTIC!!!!

Plastic is now becoming a swear word internationally and sorry but Thailand is very guilty of ignoring the dangers of this material.

It has to be recognised that this is obviously one of the greatest inventions of recent history - Bags, bottles, storage casings, cling film, etc. are all things that we use virtually every day.

The world is now becoming greatly aware of how we have been poisoning this planet with the use of plastic that we simply just throw away. Plastic takes between 2 and 1000 (one thousand!) years to decompose and through our worldwide lack of knowledge and education of this subject every Country on the planet is accidentally guilty of poisoning our land and mostly the oceans.

Wildlife in the sea mistake plastic for other marine life and they obviously have a nibble at this and in most cases this leads to death as this cannot pass through the animal's digestive system.

An international survey of fishermen and sailors surprisingly resulted in them saying that the object they see the most at Sea is floating plastic. This cannot be right can it? It is true.

If you go shopping and receive a plastic bag then please re-use these bags and take them with you the next time you go shopping - Simple.

In the UK and Ireland and other Countries around the world, the supermarkets and shops have began a 'plastic bag tax' which didn't go down too well with people as paying more tax is obviously not a good thing, but it is necessary.

This has resulted in less plastic bags being used and it has stopped people being lazy by getting new plastic bags every time they do their weekly or daily shopping.

You can purchase a cloth bag that you can take to the supermarket every time and there is no need to keep poisoning the planet with discarding these plastic bags which will end up in The Ocean. 

Everyone who either lives on the island or if you are simply visiting then you must have a backpack - Maybe try taking your backpack to the supermarket or 7/11 and there is no need for that extra plastic bag and it is very easy to ride on your motorbike with your backpack rather than having to balance a bag full of food on your little hook at the front of your bike.

This all makes perfect sense and we hope you can all join in with this.

I am sure if you have visited not just Koh Phangan but the rest of Thailand you will have noticed the amount of white plastic bags lying around on the streets and in the bins or simply washed up on the beach.

If you are at home and can seperate your plastic from the other garbarge then please speak to your landlord/landlady as there are people who will be local Thais' who will pick up this plastic and it will be sent for recycling - Again this will take you minutes to contribute to this great cause.

We hope people can help make the effort to protect the island's natural beauty and remember the next time you have a plastic bag just simply re-use this as they are durable and can last a long time and every little helps.