08 September 2019 - Croatia's 6th of September deposit of ratification of the 1995 Basel Ban Amendment has allowed this global waste dumping prohibition to finally enter into the force of international law. The Ban Amendment, adopted by the parties to the Basel Convention in 1995, prohibits, the export of hazardous wastes from member states of the European Union, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and Liechtenstein to all other countries. With Croatia's ratification, a total of 97 countries have now ratified the ban and most crucially the necessary 3/4 of the parties that were present and voting in 1995. The agreement will become a new Article in the Convention and will enter into force for the 97 countries after 90 days -- December 5th, 2019.

The Nation 05 August 2019

Thirty members of the Network of Eastern Friends led by Gunn Tattiyakul, an NGO activist and coordinator for the Padrew community for sustainable development, protested in front of Government House on Monday while the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) policy committee met inside. 

ABC Australia 16 July 2019 | Kathryn Diss

Electronic waste from Western countries, including Australia, is flooding the shores of South-East Asian nations like Thailand, sparking fears of air and water pollution.

In Thailand, scores of new sorting and recycling companies — many of them illegal and with Chinese shareholders — have sprung up in provinces surrounding the country's main port of Laem Chabang. The agricultural district of Chachoengsao, east of Bangkok, is one of the provinces which became a dumping ground for e-waste.

Bangkok Post 14 July 2019 | Sonthanaporn Inchan

The Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) is a well-known flagship megaproject of the military government. The project aims to turn most of the land in the three provinces of Chachoengsao, Chon Buri and Rayong into industrial zones.

Thai PBS 09 July 2019

In an effort to eliminate marine plastic debris, the 10 member states of ASEAN (The Association of Southeast Asia Nations) has adopted “The Bangkok Declaration on Combating Marine Debris in the ASEAN Region” at the recent 34th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok.

ASEAN officials describe the document as a testament to the group’s joint attempts to address the problem in a serious and sustainable manner.

Aljazeera 09 July 2019

Hazardous material and household rubbish found in containers that should have had only waste paper, authorities say.

Indonesia has said it will send more than 210 tonnes of rubbish back to Australia in the latest move by a South East Asian nation against serving as a "dumping ground" for rich countries.

BLT 03 July 2019

In the past few years, ASEAN has been pushing away the shipments of plastic and electronic wastes (e-wastes) from around the world after China, once the largest importers of such materials, stopped accepting them in late 2017.

Statistics showed ASEAN’s imports of such wastes during 2016 and 2018 grew 171% and a survey by Greenpeace suggested that Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand became top destinations for these items.

Bangkok Post 30 June 2019 | Thana Boonlert

Asean Summit ratifies two initiatives to tackle harmful marine debris

The 34th Asean Summit culminated last week with the ratification of two green initiatives that should bode well for the future of the planet.

The Bangkok Declaration on Combating Marine Debris and the Asean Framework of Action on Marine Debris aim to strengthen regional cooperation to protect the marine environment. However, environmental advocates are urging all stakeholders to forbid foreign waste imports to reduce marine pollution.

Nikkei Asian Review 27 June 2019 | MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR

BANGKOK -- Thai environmentalists are pressing Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to slow the enactment of a law they say could create a loophole in monitoring pollution and result in Thailand importing more plastic waste from abroad.  

The law amends the 1992 Factory Act and is set to take effect in October. The amendment was approved in late February by the National Legislative Assembly, the then military-government's rubber-stamp parliament, to create a business-friendly environment, according to the government.

The Nation 21 June 2019 | Lea Guerrero and Tara Buakamsri

Asean leaders meet this week in Bangkok as their countries reel from an unprecedented deluge of foreign waste dumping. Yet neither waste trade nor waste is on the agenda, especially considering the summit’s stated theme, “Advancing Partnership for Sustainability”.

The Nation 21 June 2019 | PRATCH RUJIVANAROM 

Campaigners want Asean to target more than just marine plastic pollution  

ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners have called on Asean member states to go beyond a narrow focus in solving the problem of marine plastic pollution to also address the plastic waste trade, as the region continues to be inundated with imported trash.  

VOA 19 June 2019 | Zsombor Peter

BANGKOK - Environmental activists from across Southeast Asia are urging their governments to present a united front ahead of a major summit in Bangkok against a surge of plastic and electronic waste imports that are turning the regions into the world's "dumpsite."

Thailand, this year's chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), will host the leaders of the 10-country bloc for a four-day summit starting Thursday under the banner "Advancing Partnership for Sustainability."

Khaosod English 19 June 2019 | Pravit Rojanaphruk

BANGKOK — Thailand and its Southeast Asian neighbors are becoming major dumping grounds for the world’s plastic garbage and electronic waste. Environmentalists now want to see a ban on waste imports imposed across ASEAN.

Environmentalists from Greenpeace Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines gathered at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand on Tuesday to discuss the sharp rise in waste imports seen by the three countries after China banned plastic and electronic waste imports in 2017.

Reuters 18 June 2019 | Patpicha Tanakasempipat

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Environmental groups called on Tuesday for Southeast Asian countries to ban waste imports from developed countries to help tackle a plastic pollution crisis, as regional leaders prepare to meet this week in Bangkok.

EARTH 11 June 2019

At the Civil Court for the Environmental Case on 11 June 2019, the villagers of Nam Pu subdistrict in Ratchaburi province who filed a lawsuit against the industrial waste treatment plant, Wax Garbage Recycle Center Company, refused to put further mediation process with the company.

Suffering repeatedly for nearly two decades, the villagers said they started to notice water contamination in their area in 2001, the same time as the company began its operation.