Plastic Containers to Fallen leaves ContainersA proposal for a better Chao Phraya River

By Andrew 7A

Back in the old days, the Chao Phraya River was crystal clear and people heard that river dolphins used to swim there. Now the Chao Phraya River is a giant disgusting trash bin. Chao Phraya River is a major river that flows in Bangkok to Gulf of Thailand. The source is where Ping River and Nan River come together in Nakhon Sawan Province. The Chao Phraya River is really important to Thailand because it gives us transportation routes, energy, recreation, irrigation, habitat for plants and animals, water for drinking, and domestic use. Today, the water quality has high turbidity and is blackish brown. Nowadays, people are too lazy, careless and don’t care for the environment so they just throw garbages in the Chao Phraya River. The Chao Phraya River is polluted with oil, litter such as plastic containers and styrofoams, sewage water, chemicals and toxins from factories nearby.

The Chao Phraya River can be improved and cleaner, by changing the street vendors and convenient stores to use my proposed innovation, fallen leaves containers instead of toxic plastic containers.

Indicators and ProblemsPlastic containers were observed on the barge trip. There were many litters in the river such as plastic bags, plastic bottles, styrofoam containers, food packages, etc. Quality indicators of my problem Current level Predicted

positive trend if innovation is implemented

Plastic containers lots NoneDead fish some NoneCoconut some SomeFood packages lots None

Plastic bottles some Fewer

Twigs and leaves lots Fewer

Systems

Effects of the plastic containersPlastic is really cheap and that is why street vendors and convenient stores use it everywhere. Many working people are really busy so they want something fast to eat. They eat at convenient stores and street vendors. The containers they use are usually plastic. Plastic is toxic and not good for your health and can make you sick and cause cancer. After people are done eating, they are too lazy to throw plastic food containers in the bins so they throw them conveniently in the Chao Phraya River or on the ground. The wind blows the plastic containers and most of them end up in the river. The mouth of the Chao Phraya River is the gulf of Thailand. All of the plastic containers flow down to the sea where marine animal lives are affected. When the marine animals eat the plastic, they suffocate and die. Fishermen have fewer fish to catch because most of them die. Because we are on top of the food chain and eat fish which eat smaller fish and smallest fish that ate small bits of plastic. The plastic they ate can add up and harm us. When we eat those fish, we get really sick from the toxins and don’t

get any nutrition from the fish. Plastic is non-biodegradable and can last for around 400 to 500 years in the sea.

In the systems, I am going to change plastic containers floating in the Chao Phraya River to fallen leaves containers.

WHY THIS IS THIS AN IDEAL POINT TO MAKE A CHANGE Not enough trash bins near the Chao Phraya River. People are lazy and it’s more convenient to throw plastic

containers in the river instead of bins. The food companies use plastic for packaging because plastic

is cheap. People are busy and want to buy something fast to eat from

convenient stores, such as Seven Eleven.

PERSPECTIVES ON STYROFOAM CONTAINERSFour different stakeholders opinion about plastic containers

People living near the river

The people living near the Chao Phraya River don’t like the plastic containers, because the water quality in the Chao Phraya River is disgusting and stinks. They cannot use the river water to drink and for domestic uses.

Hotels near the river

The hotels near the river don’t like the plastic containers floating in the river, because the river is polluted. The hotels will have less tourist and make less money.

Fish The fish don’t like the plastic containers because the plastic containers are toxic and they are non-biodegradable. The fish eats the plastic which they think is food. The fish suffocate and die.

Fishermen Fishermen like the plastic containers because they can eat while they fish. They can then simply throw the plastic containers back in the river.

InnovationMy innovation is that instead of using food containers, we should use fallen leaves containers. Fallen leaves are made by using pressure, water, steam, and UV sterilization. To produce it, the fallen leaves are soaked in water and then pressed into a waffle iron type press without using any glue, lacquer, or any other toxins that

could be in our food. This innovation is eco friendly because it is made from fallen leaves from the trees and is biodegradable.

Nature: Fallen leaves containers are non-toxic and improve plant life because trees are not destroyed during the process of making the fallen leaves containers. Since plastic is bad for marine animals, the fallen leaves containers are positive for the marine animals. The marine animals in the river and the ocean won’t eat the plastic and die because the fallen leaves are biodegradable and non-toxic. In the food chain, the small little fish eat the small bits of plastic, then the bigger fish preys on the smaller fish. That fish gets the small pieces of plastic from the small fish. When the bigger fish comes and eats that fish he gets all the toxins from plastic. The predator could either die or the fishermen catch the fish and eat it. The fishermen will become sick and if he eats a lot of fish it could lead to cancer. The water will then be cleaner because the street vendors and convenient stores will change to make containers out of fallen leaves. If people throw the fallen leaves containers into the Chao Phraya River, it won’t affect anything much because the fallen leaves containers are biodegradable. Biodegradable means it can be destroyed and broken down. Plastic is non-biodegradable and takes around 400 to 500 years to degrade. Recycle water and green energy are used to make this innovation ecofriendly.

Economy: Street vendors and convenient stores use plastic containers because they are really cheap and convenient. If we use the fallen leaves containers instead, it would be easy to find the raw materials to make the fallen leaves containers. The fallen leaves containers are affordable. They are only 15 baht for one piece of fallen leaves container. It doesn’t cost that much money to run it. You only need to buy a waffle iron type press for 1,800 baht and UV sterilizer which cost around 700 baht. The jobs that are created by this innovation are the distributors and sales people of the fallen leaves containers. The jobs that are lost because of this innovation are the companies that produce the plastic food containers and the street vendors who buy from them.

Society: People living near the river will have a cleaner environment because the river has fewer litters. All the people of different backgrounds will be affected equally because we will have fewer toxins in our food. Everyone in society will be impacted by

this innovation because they will be healthier and use less plastic containers. This innovation is appropriate for the people and hotels near the Chao Phraya River because the water quality will be improved. Tourists will increase and people’s lives will improve from more income.

Well being: The people will become healthier because the innovation are not produced with glue, lacquer, or any other toxins that could be in our food. Since we are on the top of the food chain, we eat the fish and the fish eats the plastic, which have a lot of toxic chemicals. The chemicals such as arsenic and mercury in the plastic can lead to cancer. The people will feel safer because there are no toxic substances in the fallen leaves containers and they are really clean. The people who are living or working near the Chao Phraya River will be much happier because there are less plastic containers in the river and the water quality will become cleaner. Fishermen will be happier because there are more toxic free fish to catch.

ConclusionAs you can see, many plastic food containers are floating around the Chao Phraya River and ruining the river ecosystem. This is because of careless business people who want fast food to eat so they eat at convenient stores and street vendors. These people are lazy and careless about the environment. They throw the plastic containers in the Chao Phraya River. My solution is that instead of using plastic containers we can use fallen leaves containers. This innovation is simple and easy to make. This innovation impacts nature in a good way. The innovation is environmental friendly because this innovation uses fallen leaves that have fallen naturally on the ground. This innovation also uses recycle water and green energy. Trees are not destroyed in the process and marine animals won’t eat the plastic and die because the fallen leaves are biodegradable and nontoxic. The innovation impacts economy well. The fallen leaves containers are really cheap and only cost 47 cents each. The fallen leaves containers are easy to make. They are made by soaking fallen leaves into water and then pressing them in a waffle iron type press. The jobs that are created are the distributors and sales people of the fallen leaves containers. The jobs that are lost are the companies who produce the plastic food containers and the vendors who buy from them. This innovation

impacts society positively. All the people of different backgrounds will be affected equally because we will have less toxins in our food and fish. This innovation is appropriate for the people living near the Chao Phraya River because the water quality will improve. This innovation impacts wellbeing in a good way. The people will become healthier because this innovation was not made with glue, lacquer, or any other toxins that could be in our food. The people would feel safer because there are no toxic substances in the food and the fallen leaves containers are biodegradable and a great innovation for the Chao Phraya River. If we use the fallen leaves containers, the Chao Phraya River will be less polluted and people and animals have better lives.

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