In an effort to reduce the waste being contributed to its landfills, Phuket is shunning the plastic bag in favour of canvas shopping bags.
Phuket current generates a staggering 540 tonnes of waste every day. The island, however, is equipped with just 1 incinerator which can only cope with 250 tonnes of waste per day. The excess has to go to the rapidly filling landfill, a situation which is not sustainable.
From the need to reduce some of the waste, the Phuket Provincial Energy Office has spawned the ‘Phuket Green Island’ campaign which encourages the use of canvas shopping bags instead of the polluting plastic bag. It is hoped that the project can reduce the prevalence of plastic bags by 60%, which equal about 5,000 tonnes per year.
This amount, however, is but a mere 9.5 days worth of rubbish, and although the project is noble, it will have to be 1 strategy of attack in the never ending war on rubbish as, according to official figures, Phuket is set to generate 800 tonnes of rubbish per day within the next 5 years.