The report indicates that Thailand’s primary plastic production generated up to 27.3 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) annually, which was equal to greenhouse gas emission from 5.9 million cars.
Of Thailand’s total emission of 372 million tCO2e in 2019, the primary plastic manufacturing was ranked third greenhouse gas emission source at 7.3%, following agriculture and industrial sectors of 15.23% and 10.28% respectively.
“Thailand produced 9 million tons of plastics annually, and 36% of them were short-lifespan single-use plastics, which resulted in 2 million tons of plastic waste annually,” the report said, citing data from the Plastics Institute of Thailand.
Though public and private organisations have campaigned for plastic recycling, only 17.6% of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) were recycled in 2018.
