Marine Litter Prevention through reduction, sustainable design, and recycling of plastic packaging (MA-RE-DESIGN)

CONTEXT

Thailand is a hub for industry and tourism in Southeast Asia. Tourism development combined with population increase and economic growth, however, has led to more and more waste: In 2019 alone, 28.7 million tons of municipal solid waste were generated¹. Thailand is among the world’s top 10 countries with high levels of plastic leakage into the ocean. The country is also recognised as a biodiversity hotspot with a marine endowment of more than 400 hard corals and over 2,000 fish species.

In 2019, the Thai government worked on the development of the Roadmap on Plastic Waste Management 2018-2030, a key policy initiative to avoid and manage plastic waste in Thailand, as well as on regional commitments jointly with other ASEAN Member States. The MA-RE-DESIGN project supports Thailand’s regional and national commitments for better plastic waste management and ocean protection.

OBJECTIVE

The project aims to avoid plastic waste and improve the prevention of plastic waste leakage.

APPROACHES

The MA-RE-DESIGN project follows a multi-level approach to prevent plastic leakage into the marine environment. It follows the circular economy principle by paying attention to the full packaging value chain. Effective measures will be implemented with key local, national and regional actors, including the private sector, whose capacities will be strengthened by the project.

Local Level: The project supports measures in two Thai municipalities, which will serve as best practices for other regions and feed into policy development at the national level.

National Level: The concrete marine litter prevention measures in the municipalities are expected to be replicated, leading to policy development at the national level, for example, an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system.

Regional Level: The project feeds into regional knowledge exchange and networks, which will consolidate joint efforts for marine litter prevention and the conservation of marine ecosystems. This regional cooperation also contributes to global policy development and implementation.

The project outputs include interventions in three areas of activities:

1. Developing strategies to avoid and replace single-use plastic packaging.
   The project intends to improve production processes/ packaging design, enhance knowledge and understanding of avoiding single-use plastic consumption, support local administrative organisations to set rules and regulations for waste separation, as well as develop a methodology for estimating plastic waste leakage reduction to which the project has contributed.

2. Supporting process on packaging waste management, including EPR system
   A draft policy document on EPR for packaging waste is being jointly developed with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE). Additionally, private sector stakeholders will also develop a concept for a Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) to collectively implement the EPR of member companies.

3. Reducing plastic waste in two pilot municipalities near marine biodiversity hotspots
   The pilot municipalities are namely Koh Tao Sub-district Municipality, Surat Thani Province and Trang City Municipality, Trang Province. The project supports local administrations in developing Plastic Action Plans and integrating recommendations from that plan into their annual action plans for municipal solid waste management.

4. Knowledge exchange and upscaling in the international platforms
   The regional knowledge exchange peer learning, and outreach on marine litter prevention are being increased across 9 Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA) countries, including Thailand. The implementing partner develops the regional capacity and knowledge products based on project findings across outputs.

FINANCED BY

Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV)

COUNTRY

Thailand

PROJECT PARTNERS

Pollution Control Department (PCD), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment

PROJECT DURATION

01/10/2022 – 31/03/2026