According to Reuters, as much as 3,432 tonnes of plastic was thrown away in Bangkok each day in April 2020, up from 2019’s average of 2,115 tonnes, city data shows. This is equivalent to about 120kg per inhabitant plastic waste generated in a year (vs 50kg per inhabitant in Europe per year). A leading Thailand packaging company AJ Plast is leading way to reduce plastic packaging waste.
Plastic waste presents a significant challenge in Thailand's waste management. Its plastics recycling rate is about 20% in 2019. The rest goes to landfills (90%) and incineration (10%).
To solve this problem, both producers and consumers must take responsibility. Government regulation, standardization, and governance are essential as well. It is important to develop the circular economy standardization to allow the adoption the recycled content in packaging materials.
AJ Plast PLC has been the largest Biaxially Oriented (BO) film manufacturer in southeast Asia since 2014. It became the world's 1st completed BO film maker in 2013 producing BOPP, BOPET, BOPA, and BOPLA. It also produces CPP, Metallized, and coated Films. It is a Thailand-based public company listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).
AJ Plast has set its circular economy transition targets: by 2025, all its packaging materials will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable. It has already launched its Earth Care Solutions including BioPA (containing 90% biomass feedstock), BOPPlus (100% recyclable single layer packaging mixed with plant-based biopolymer), and BOPLA (100% Biodegradable). It also uses Post-Industrial-Recycled (PIR) BO film and Metallized film (in-house recycling), Post-consumed-recycled (PCR) PET, and PA to produce its packaging film. This reduces significantly virgin materials consumption.
