BANGKOK — Thailand’s Pollution Control Department is pushing for greener celebrations of Loy Krathong, the traditional festival of floating lanterns, as concerns mount over waste choking the nation’s waterways.
The festival, which falls on November 5 this year, generates massive amounts of waste annually, much of it non-biodegradable styrofoam and plastic decorations that fragment into microplastics in aquatic ecosystems, said PCD Director-General Surin Vorakitpornkul on Sunday.
Three-Pronged Approach
The department is promoting three alternatives to reduce the festival’s environmental footprint:
- Families should share a single krathong or choose smaller floats with minimal decorations.
- The PCD also recommends traditional materials like banana leaves, lotus flowers, or ice krathongs that dissolve naturally.
- For those wanting zero waste, virtual platforms now allow online krathong floating.
Bread Krathongs Raise Concerns
Vorakitpornkul warned against the trendy bread-based krathongs, noting their high organic content can cause water to spoil when released in large numbers into ponds or enclosed bodies of water.
“They become food waste in the water instead,” he said, urging people to use only designated floating areas at temples and public parks where cleanup crews can properly collect and dispose of materials.
The PCD is also asking festival-goers and tourists to separate food waste and single-use plastics at venues, and to bring reusable bags and water bottles to cut plastic consumption during the celebrations.
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