Plastic BagsProposal for a Healthier Chao Phraya River

By: Cecilia Andersson

INTRODUCTIONThe Chao Phraya is a river that starts in Chiang Mai and reaches all the way to Bangkok. It gives many people access to water everyday such as the local people working around that area. The water in the Chao Phraya is used for different reasons such as irrigation, transportation on the boats across the river, fishing to provide food and is a source of income for many people living close to it. Although the river is used for many positive purposes, it is and has for many years faced extreme increase in pollution and become a very dirty source of water.

For this reason, we have decided to try to increase the number of garbage bins along the river to avoid increasing the amount of garbage specifically plastic bags. This would also reduce the amount of plastic in the fish that the people will eat later on.

INDICATORS

Quality indicators of my problem

Current level

Predicted positive trend if innovation is implemented

Plastic bags from shops A lot Less

Dead animals on surface Some Less

Plastic in general Lots Some

Number of bins Less A lot

SYSTEMS

EFFECTS OF PLASTIC BAGSThe effect of plastic bags on different stakeholders and ecosystems are that the plastic kill the fish in the water as they might mistake these bags for other types of fish or animals. They might also die due to suffocation which means that the will not have enough oxygen to survive. This would also occur when the plastic bags are covering the surface of the water and the sunlight cannot reach the plants living in the water. This effect of eutrophication leads to the death of both plants and fish in the water.Another impact that these plastic bags have is that it is a danger to humans as they will eat all the plastic that the fish contains as well as the plastic that this fish has eaten previously. This system is called bioaccumulation. Moreover, it takes a very long time for the plastic bags to break down and there is a high rate of spread of chemicals in the water which kill living organisms in the water.Finally, in a city like Bangkok where many tourists are visiting every year, it is very unattractive to have a river covered in plastic. PERSPECTIVES ON PLASTIC BAGS

Stakeholder Impact

Farmers The farmers are in need of the water from the river for irrigation of their land so if the water is polluted this will destroy the land of agriculture for these farmers living in this area.

Local People Many of the local people living in this area, use the water from the river to cook, wash themselves or their clothes and other activities. Therefore if the water is very dirty and full of chemicals, they will no longer be able to use it for these purposes. But because of their economic situation they might not have a choice and for that reason they will use dirty water which can be contaminated and dangerous.

Animals Because of these plastic bags, animals will die because of suffocation and eutrophication. Fish might think the plastic bag is a jellyfish or other food and mistake it for food. This is very dangerous as the animals will die because they will end up eating too much plastic in the long run.

Businesspeople They have to give people their food in plastic bags for “take-away” to be able to support their business as they might not have a wide range of options. If they cannot use plastic bags they will most likely not be able to sell their products.

WHY THIS IS THE IDEAL POINT TO MAKE A CHANGEIf the Chao Phraya has more bins around it, it would be a lot cleaner, people would be healthier and fish as well as plants would be able to live a better life. Some of the reasons why there is so much plastic in the water is because there are not enough trash bins so people throw their waste on the ground or in the river. Moreover, people are in a hurry so they just throw the plastic bag away somewhere. There are not any laws about littering and therefore people do not have to follow any rules about not throwing plastic in the air. Plastic bags are very accessible and cheap and that is the reason why most of people always have plastic bags and they do not care to recycle them nor reuse them.

INNOVATIONMy innovation is to get more bins around Chao Phraya that are big and look

attractive for people to throw their trash in specifically plastic bags.

NATUREPlastic is a very toxic and dangerous chemical which can take up to 1000 years to break down. In today’s society, people consume more and more every day and especially in local areas like around the Chao Phraya River, people are trying to get their business going and are not preoccupied by the environment. For this reason, he amount of plastic keeps increase in the water and because of this, fish and animals in the river keep on eating the plastic bags and they die.

If garbage bins were to be used systemically, it would make the Chao Phraya cleaner by decreasing the amount of plastic bags and it would increase the amount of  fish by getting more trash cans. It will all result in an increase in health for both the animals and the local people/workers around the area.

WELL BEINGDue to bioaccumulation, the fish that the people will eat will be full of plastic if there is a lot of plastic in the water. Therefor this puts the health and wellbeing of people eating the fish at risk as they will be eating a lot of chemicals. Moreover, this does also put the life of the fish at risk as they will die from mistaking the plastic with other types of fish and food that they think they can eat. Plants will also suffer due to eutrophication which is when the sunlight cannot reach the water which means that the plants cannot grow.

Increasing the number of garbage bins would reduce the amount of plastic bags in the river. This would increase the number of healthy fish and increase the standards of living of people living in the area as they will not get sick from eating the contaminated fish. Moreover, less fish and plants will die because the chemicals will be taken away as well as the large amount of other types of garbage which people would through in the garbage bins. People would be happier by getting more trash cans because it would make their home a nicer and cleaner place as well.

SOCIETYGarbage bins are used in order for people to throw their waste inside and not leave it on the floor which will lead to pollution. An increase amount of garbage bins would make people happier as they would live in a cleaner place and environment. Moreover, without all the plastic bags in the river, it will have a much better appeal and look more attractive which would also increase the lifestyle of people.

If serious measures would be taken and the river would be cleaned up it could also be used for entertainment and people would be able to swim inside. This is a very unlikely situation but it could be possible. Increase the amount of garbage

EconomyA reason for the high consumption of plastic bags is because they are extremely cheap and very accessible. It is very useful for vendors and other people to use plastic bags and there is no close and as simple alternative.  This means that those will still be used. However there is a way to avoid the spread and pollution of them in the river which is by the use of garbage bins.

In the long term, increasing the amount of garbage cans will increase air and water quality which will in the long run be a cheaper solution to pollution. This means that less work will have to be done in collecting the plastic from the river through the use of garbage bins.

CONCLUSION

The problem with plastic bags can be seen very easily as there are plastic bags floating everywhere in the river, dead animals and plants floating in the surface.The people getting affected by the plastic bags in the river are farmers, local people and business people mainly. The main source of this pollution is human activity. This means that we are not taking care of our environment and polluting the ecosystems that we have available. When consumers buy products or food they usually receive a plastic bag. However, this is not a long term object and is usually thrown away after first use. For this reason, along the river, many of them end up in the water because of the wind that drag them into it or simply because they are being thrown in the water. The living things in the river are affected by this in a negative way as the bags are covering the surface plants and animals living in the water are not getting enough sunlight and suffocating. Moreover, as stated earlier, humans are also suffering in terms of health issues when eating fish with plastic inside. The solution is getting more trash cans which are attractive, big, and labeled. If the trash cans are labeled it would be easier to recycle plastic bags and other garbage. This would also be a way to ensure that the plastic does not end up in the water but in the bins. It has a good impact on NATURE because it’s preventing people from polluting by making it easy for them to throw their waste in the garbage bin which would reduce pollution. It would also have a positive effect on WELLBEING as it would increase the standard of living of people as well as their and the animals health. It also affects the ECONOMY because it is a simple and cheap way to save the future environment and make the life of the locals and ecosystems easier. Finally, SOCIETY would also benefit from this innovation as it would preserve the natural environments and the attractiveness of the area.

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ICPDR Secretariat. "Eutrophication." ICPDR. N.p., June 1999. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.http://www.icpdr.org/main/issues/eutrophication