Note: This event will take place on 10/7 at 7:00 PM UTC+7.

Thailand is one of the world’s most voracious consumers of single-use plastics. In recent years it has been ranked in the top ten sources of maritime plastic waste, a pollution crisis brought home by distressing images of beached whales, stomachs bloated with plastic bags, and turtles injured by discarded straws and six-pack rings. Growing consumer awareness in Thailand’s cities has persuaded big retailers to discourage the use of disposable bags, but little headway has been made in significantly reducing excessive plastic packaging, expanding what can be recycled, and improving containment of plastic waste at landfill sites. Plastic is not all bad. In many ways a miracle material: it is very light, easily molded, and probably irreplaceable for products like cling-film. Its overall carbon footprint can be much smaller than rival materials like glass or aluminum. But the amounts that are discarded must be reduced if we are to avoid catastrophic clogging of our oceans.

Join the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) for a panel discussion on this issue, which affects us all and in which we all have a part to play.

Speakers include:

• Pinsak Suraswadi, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, Ministry of National Resources and Environment (to be confirmed)

• Kakuko Nagatani-Yoshida, Regional Coordinator for Chemicals, Waste and Air Quality, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

• André Nothomb, Executive Vice-President, Head of Government Affairs Asia Pacific, Solvay Asia Pacific

• Dominic Chakrabongse, Director, Precious Plastic Bangkok

• Moderator: Jonathan Head

This event will be broadcast live on the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) Facebook page. Click here to view the Facebook event.