The Industry and Finance ministries are using a new corporate income tax reduction programme to encourage businesses to use more biodegradable plastic products, in a move to reduce waste.
"The tax reduction amounts to around 25% of what companies paid to buy biodegradable plastic products between 2022 and 2024," said Industry Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit.
"This measure also supports the state's bio-, circular and green [BCG] economic model."
BCG, which has been declared a national agenda item by the Prayut Chan-o-cha administration, encourages manufacturers to adopt techniques that can add value to products while also having little or no impact on the environment.
The tax reduction is aimed at helping the government reduce the usage of plastic materials, including single-use products, said Mr Suriya.
Companies, especially shopping mall operators and retailers, are among the government's main targets as they use a large amount of plastic products.
Warawan Chitaroon, director-general of the Office of Industrial Economics, said business operators who want to join the tax reduction programme must buy biodegradable plastic products from manufacturers certified by the Industry Ministry.
"The ministry has so far certified seven companies, which have been granted 72 licences on various biodegradable plastic products," she said.
The products include plastic tubes, plastic garbage bags, single-use plastic bags, and plastic ziplock bags.
According to the Pollution Control Department, Thailand is ranked among the world's top 10 worst marine plastic debris polluters.
The country generates around 2 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, but the country recycles only 25% of it.
The government launched a policy to ban single-use plastic bags in 2018, and started by asking retailers not to hand them out to shoppers from Jan 1, 2020.
However, the campaign was affected when Thailand went into lockdown to contain Covid-19 later that year. The work-from-home guidelines led to a boom in food delivery services, which subsequently required more plastic bags.
The development of biodegradable plastic materials, together with the use of biochemical and biopharmaceutical technologies, is in line with the government's plan to make Thailand a bio hub in Asean by 2027.
