{"id":1946,"date":"2019-06-20T17:07:47","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T09:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/master.k8s.p4.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/?p=1946"},"modified":"2025-03-26T13:27:42","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T05:27:42","slug":"asean-leaders-welcomed-by-mountain-of-trash-and-calls-to-ban-plastic-and-e-waste-imports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/press\/1946\/asean-leaders-welcomed-by-mountain-of-trash-and-calls-to-ban-plastic-and-e-waste-imports\/","title":{"rendered":"ASEAN leaders welcomed by “mountain of trash” and calls to ban plastic and e-waste imports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bangkok<\/b>, 20 June 2019<\/b> – A mountain of plastic and electronic waste appeared on the streets of central Bangkok today as delegates from the 10 member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) arrived in the Thai capital for the start of the 34th ASEAN summit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Activists from Greenpeace and other environmental and community groups held banners saying \u2018no space for waste\u2019 as they unveiled the spectacle outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, which has been chosen as the ASEAN-National Secretariat, a major focal point during this week\u2019s talks. They called on ASEAN leaders to declare an immediate ban on the transboundary trade in hazardous electronic and plastic wastes – without exception.<\/span><\/p>\n

Phansupha Daengpradap from Nongchumphon-nuea community of Phetchaburi province said: \u201c<\/span>We are here today to reclaim our rights to the environment and demand that Thailand, as ASEAN Chair, put the issue of waste and the waste trade on the table.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Following public pressure from Thai civil society, Thailand\u2019s government has, in principle, committed to a ban on imports of hundreds of hazardous substances present in plastics and electronic waste – though definitive timelines for implementation, phase-in, and final chemical specifications have remained undisclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, on Wednesday the Thai government took this a step further by suggesting it would be open to \u2018a coordinated and unified\u2019 ban on plastic waste. Busadee Santipitaks, a spokeswoman for Thailand\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the international multimedia agency, Voice of America [1], that “If there is a concerted effort, we are fully supportive of it. In principle, I think all countries are concerned with the trade of plastic waste …and we probably would not like to see these things happen.”<\/span><\/p>\n

In an open letter to the Royal Thai Government as ASEAN Chair, Thai civil society has made these further demands.<\/span><\/p>\n