Stepping out of the customs office in Maesai for entry into Thailand from the Myanmar border Tachileik, a sprawling local market is spread out along the road that’s perhaps the perfect example of proliferation of single - use plastic. Fruits and other perishable food items were all wrapped in thin, transparent plastic on display. If you bought an orange, the shopkeeper will invariably hand you the fruit inside a plastic bag and will give you another plastic packet with it. “Plastic inside another plastic, you lose your mind looking at that habit, ” is how a European traveller explained, at the border.
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Enter Bangkok, it’s 2 pm. Chinapa Jittipon materialises from a 7 - Eleven store with two plastic bags for her lunch break. One carries a soft drink, the other holds her lunch: some fast food and a banana in its own plastic wrapper.