Some timid but lengthy overdue steps are actually being taken towards reducing Thailand’s plastic waste. Baby steps to begin out with however there is no doubt that the difficulty has now entered the Thai nationwide psyche. In reaction, up to now, Thai companies have, for probably the most part, made solely cursory PR efforts at tackling the larger problem but, again, it’s a start.
Take, for example, a big Thai purchasing centre chain proudly announcing that it is going to ‘ask’ clients as quickly as a month if they actually want a plastic bag for his or her shopping. Useless. Meanwhile the plastic baggage continue to walk out of their shops by the millions each month (including on the ONE day) and end up as single-use plastic bags filling up the limited land-fills or swishing around the surrounding seas. Their ‘alternative’ is to promote expensive canvas baggage to shoppers, for 200-400 baht.
The authorities in the meantime is dithering with the problem of plastic waste, with no concrete legal guidelines or options that may have any long-term impact. Even with Rich and current danger of air pollution in many areas, together with the capital, there has been finger-pointing and head-shaking but no useful campaigns or adjustments of legal guidelines that will have a useful or sustainable affect on improving Thailand’s air quality.
But how do you modify a generation’s mindset? How do you cease one million folks a day buying coffee and drinks in a plastic cup, with a plastic lid, inside a plastic carry bag, and a plastic straw?
Around the world, research shows that worry or shock tactics, or methods primarily based on shame, guilt and negative wording, are generally ineffective and can even end up having the reverse effect.
“Say NO” and worry campaigns are solely effective supplied that the audience is already taking positive steps towards the desired behavioural change. In Thailand that is a good distance from the current state of affairs.
Campaigns not only need to clarify the difficulty, but also provide straightforward recommendation on what do to about it. Saying ‘NO’ does nothing to empower people with the reasons to change and the alternatives available. There is a litany of failed ‘Say No’ campaigns for points as numerous as illicit drugs, smoking, ache killers and plastic bags around the world.
Take for instance the “Hey Tosser!”, run by the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority in Australia back in 2015. The marketing campaign was based on naming and shaming, largely ineffective in a western tradition and doomed to failure in a culture like Thailand where saving ‘face’ is paramount.
Encouraging the common public to shame “tossers” (a play on words in Australia where ‘tosser’ is a derogatory nickname as nicely as a description of what they’re doing with their garbage), creates an unhelpful stereotype that doesn’t really exist – individuals don’t see themselves as the problem.
Author and social behaviour change professional Les Robinson suggests that rather than attempt to scare or disgrace folks into altering habits, it’s more useful to create a optimistic buzz across the change – create new behaviours which are simple to undertake and sustain, foster supportive actions, groups and alternatives that change habits, inform and entertain.
So if we need to sort out littering and cut back plastic bag use we should make folks really feel that they are part of an inclusive movement that’s supported by their peers, neighborhood and authorities. And it needs to be related to their lives.
Is it sustainable? Is it do-able? Is there an inexpensive alternative? If not, then telling people NOT to do one thing (like using less plastic bags) is a waste of time and simply alienates them from the trigger.
The CP group (the homeowners of Thailand’s 7-Eleven chain) say they have the (rather optimistic) plan of getting rid of plastic bag use within ten years.
The marketing campaign has been supported by Artiwara “Toon” Kongmalai, the lead singer of Bodyslam and marathon runner, who ran from Thailand’s south to north in a large fund-raiser last yr. Massively in style in Thailand as a role mannequin, singer, celebrity and runner, Toon has been a giant part of elevating the consciousness of this marketing campaign throughout the Thai group. But the plastic baggage politely refused by willing customers are still a tiny fraction of Thailand’s complete plastic bag downside.
Tesco Lotus, too, jumped on the feel-good PR bandwagon and introduced it might replace handing out plastic baggage, for at some point in November final yr. Just in the future with no plans or bulletins to deal with the chain’s ongoing contribution to Thailand’s plastic bag drawback.
Thailand’s plastic bag downside, an enormous downside certainly, wants solutions from the highest, down. At this time these messages aren’t coming from the highest however from the ground up – a fragmented group of individuals and well-meaning associations which may be driving a wave of concern for the difficulty and, in many circumstances, pushing their own cause..