Preventing marine litter in Thailand by reducing, redesigning and recycling plastic packaging (MA-RE-DESIGN)

Context

Thailand is an industry and tourism hub in Southeast Asia. Tourism development combined with population increase and economic growth, however, has led to more and more waste, especially plastic waste. This often ends up in the ocean, where it threatens the marine biodiversity, which has more than 400 hard corals and over 2,000 species of fish. Today, Thailand is among the top 10 countries with the highest plastic leakage into the sea.

Objective

Measures for the effective prevention of plastic waste leakage into Thailand’s marine environment are being implemented.

Approach

The project is active in different fields. It follows the circular economy principle by paying attention to the full packaging value chain. The project supports Thailand’s regional and national commitments for better plastic waste management and ocean protection.

GIZ and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) work with key stakeholders along the plastic value chain to develop strategies to avoid and replace single-use plastic packaging. This also includes developing a draft policy statement on extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging waste and a concept for a producer responsibility organisation (PRO), in collaboration with project partners.

WWF supports two selected municipalities near protected marine areas as pilot sites in integrating the Plastic Smart City Action Plans into their annual action plans for municipal solid waste management including developing a safeguards risk analysis and strategy.

Based on project findings, the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA) will develop regional capability and knowledge products, as well as improve the capacities of COBSEA national focal agencies, and share lessons learned with key parties.

Last update: Mai 2023