
A worker sorts plastic waste for recycling in Samut Prakan province, Thailand. Photo Credit: Anadolu/Getty Images
EnvironmentHealth Thailand“We Don’t Want Your Plastic Waste Anymore,” Decides This Country
To protect human health, Thailand has banned the importation of plastic waste from developed nations.
“The ban on all plastic scrap imports should be seen as a triumph for civil society in preventing hazardous waste entering Thailand,” says Penchom Sae-Tang, director of the NGO: Ecological Alert and Recovery.
Developed nations have been known to pay countries to import their plastic waste. After China banned the practice in 2018, Thailand became a leading destination for plastic waste exports from Europe, the US, the UK, and Japan. Officials estimate that over 1.1 million tons of plastic scraps were imported between 2018 and 2021 alone. Often, the plastic was mismanaged and burned in factories rather than recycled, causing significant concerns for human health and particularly affecting poorer, vulnerable populations. Thailand’s ban should be seen as an important win, but campaigners emphasize the importance of a global treaty agreement to ensure that enforcement of the ban is, and remains, successful.