It’s been six years since I’d visited Thailand and I was really shocked by the amount of rubbish everywhere. In Bangkok I didn’t see many bins. At a street market with food, there are no places for you to dispose of your packaging after you have finished your food. I’m just not used to the amount of plastic being used once and then discarded. Every so often there will be mounds of rubbish either left at the kerbside or on the pavement somewhere and all you can really do is add to it.

If you buy a few kebabs, then you might get one or two bags and then if you buy a drink it’s put into a plastic contraption to make it easier to carry and they give you a plastic straw. The only place that made an effort was a drinks stall in Surat Thani that used a bamboo holder, which I returned after I finished my drink, but the straw provided was plastic. I don’t use straws, it’s just thrown in for good measure.

Fly tipping is rife. The day I hired the moped and I was able to venture further afield I came across many places where truck loads of plastics in all forms was mixed with nature.

I often refused the packaging if I could.

Almost nothing is recyclable, it’s very sad. Mind you the hotel in Bangkok that I stayed at used glass bottles for drinking water and I remember that being more common years ago. Now everything is plastic. Convenience is killing our world.