Thailand began the year environmentally friendly by banning single-use plastic bags. All well, but with orders to "stay at home" and mandated quarantines, plastic waste has increased. One Thai artist, who stayed in a state-owned quarantine facility, added all the plastic containers and bottles he used while isolated. He had over 100.
"I thought the thousands of people who had to go into state quarantine multiplied that trash," Henry Tan told Khaosod English.
"Just my flight alone has led to a quarantine of 200 people."
That's more than 20,000 pieces of plastic waste if all 200 used just as much waste as Tan did. Tan had to be quarantined upon returning from Japan to Thailand. He had stayed at the hotel in Palazzo Bangkok. Meals were left 3 times a day outside the entrance, normally in a plastic box with plastic cutlery and plastic condiments. Han
took photos of the plastic cups and bottles spread out on the board, along with two of his meals eaten in plastic containers, and shared the images on Facebook.
After the pandemic, plastic pollution has risen, with a spike in distribution and takeaway orders. The director of the Thailand Environment Institute said last month that the volume of plastic waste has risen to 6,300 tons per day, Coconuts Bangkok stated last month that before the pandemic it was 1,500 tons per day.
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