Environment and natural resources
Pollution and waste
Government planning stronger measures to deal with pollution: Varawut
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa has said the government is preparing stronger measures to tackle the dust and air pollution problem.He said seeking public cooperation by upgrading and cleaning car engines had only helped maintain the status quo. He said 72 per cent ...
The Nation Reporter
New panel set up to tackle waste disposal
A new subcommittee on plastic and electronic waste will intensify garbage disposal measures by reviewing the existing quota on waste imports.The panel will work under the National Environment Board, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, which on Thursday resolved to endorse its establishment. The ...
Apinya Wipatayotin & Phusadee Arunmas
Bangkok on high alert as PM2.5 levels forecast to rise
Bangkok on Wednesday recorded the world’s third worst air quality on Air Visual, a popular app monitoring pollution, while City Hall is on high alert for a predicted rise in PM2.5 levels until the end of this week.The level of PM2.5 at 9.30am on Wednesday ...
Supoj Wancharoen
Anti-plastic campaign starts to hit home
Among Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa’s top priorities is reducing the amount of single-use plastic bags. To help him, 75 department stores, convenience stores and other shops with more than 24,500 branches nationwide have agreed to do so and from Wednesday they will ...
Apinya Wipatayotin
Thailand set to intensify ban on e-waste imports
Thailand’s Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa on Wednesday told the media that the country would intensify the ban on e-waste and plastic garbage smuggled from abroad.“The ministry is serious in countering the imports of smuggled e-waste into Thailand,” said Varawut. “This is for ...
Breaking the PM2.5 cycle
Thailand is notorious for its ad hoc responses to recurring and foreseeable problems– from seasonal flooding and drought to fatal road accidents during holidays. In recent years, dangerously unhealthy smog caused by fine dust particles known as PM2.5 has become another predictable threat that has ...
Circular solution to plastic plight
We are drowning in plastics. Unless we change our behaviour, there will be more plastic by weight than fish in the ocean by 2050. Solving this crisis requires us to do more than just banning plastic straws. We need a paradigm shift. We must adopt ...
Bangkok canals clogged with tonnes of rubbish
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) collected close to 400,000 tonnes of garbage in canals across the capital over the past five years, the Department of Drainage and Sewerage says.Between 2015 and 2019, the BMA collected 387,261 tonnes of trash from 948 canals across Bangkok, Sansern ...
Bangkok Post Reporter
Heinrich Böll Foundation and Greenpeace call for global convention on plastic crisis
The Heinrich Böll Foundation (HBF) and Greenpeace held a press briefing last Thursday (12 December) at the Heinrich Böll Foundation Southeast Asia office in Bangkok, in which representatives of the two organizations called for a new global convention on the plastic crisis and for a ...
Department of Health suggests wearing masks to protect against PM 2.5
With the PM 2.5 dust particle value once again exceeding the standard in Bangkok and surrounding areas, Department of Health director-general Dr Panpimol Wipulakorn predicted on Thursday (December 12) that the air pollution would escalate this weekend.“Currently the PM 2.5 level is at 101-200 by ...
The Nation Reporter