White or transparent plastic bottles littering the green forest, the beach or
urban walkways, have become a common sight wherever one goes in Thailand.
It takes only a few minutes to consume a bottle of drinking water, but it
takes hundreds of years for the bottle to disintegrate.
The Boon Rawd Co. Ltd, which produced Singha, has begun to package its
water products in plastic bottles. lt will be able to turn out 14,000 plastic bottles
an hour, while North Star, which produces Polaris, has five machines'capable of
producing 20,000 plastic bottles an hour. lf we count all the factories which
produce drinking water in plastic bottles, it is clear that the plastic bottle garbage
we produce annually numbers thousands of tonnes.
Although the plastic bottles may be compatible with the need of
consumers, they go against the social trend of environmental conservation.
Consequently, manufacturers of drinking water should also be concerned about
the environmental impact of plastic bottles and should take some responsibility
by buying the plastic bottles back for reuse or recycling