Thailand striving to reduce plastic usage
Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand's Industry and Finance Ministries are using a new corporate income tax reduction programme to encourage businesses to use more biodegradable plastic products, in a move to reduce waste.
Industry Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit said the tax
reduction amounts to around 25% of what companies paid to buy biodegradable
plastic products between 2022 and 2024. The measure also supports the state's
bio-, circular and green (BCG) economic model.
BCG, which has been declared a national agenda item by the Prayut Chan-o-cha
administration, encourages manufacturers to adopt techniques that can add value
to products while also having little or no impact on the environment.
Minister Suriya said the tax reduction is aimed at helping the government
reduce the usage of plastic materials, including single-use products. Companies,
especially shopping mall operators and retailers, are among the government's
main targets as they use a large amount of plastic products.
Warawan Chitaroon, director-general of the Office of Industrial Economics, said
business operators who want to join the tax reduction programme must buy
biodegradable plastic products from manufacturers certified by the Industry
Ministry.
She added the ministry has so far certified seven companies, which have been
granted 72 licences on various biodegradable plastic products. The products
include plastic tubes, plastic garbage bags, single-use plastic bags, and
plastic ziplock bags.
According to the Pollution Control Department,
Thailand is ranked among the world's top 10 marine plastic debris
polluters. The country generates around 2 million tonnes of plastic waste
annually, but the country recycles only 25% of it.
The government launched a policy to ban single-use plastic bags in 2018, and
started by asking retailers not to hand them out to shoppers from Jan 1, 2020.
However, the campaign was affected when Thailand went into lockdown to contain the COVID-19 pandemic later that year. The work-from-home guidelines led to a boom in food delivery
services, which subsequently required more plastic bags.
The development of biodegradable plastic materials, together with the use of biochemical and biopharmaceutical technologies, is in line with the government's plan to make Thailand a bio hub in ASEAN by 2027./.