Lilly, Thailand's Greta Thunberg-like activist, wages 'war' on plastic

BANGKOK - Skipping school to glide through a dirty Bangkok canal on a paddleboard, Lilly fishes out rubbish in her mission to clean up Thailand, where the average person uses eight plastic bags every single day.

"I am a kid at war," the bubbly 12-year-old says after a painstaking hourlong routine picking up cans, bags and bottles bobbing in the canal.

"I try to stay optimistic but I am also angry. Our world is disappearing," she adds.

Thailand is the sixth-largest global contributor to ocean pollution, and plastic is a scourge.

Whether it's for wrapping up street food, take-away coffees or for groceries, Thais use 3,000 single use bags per year - 12 times more than someone from the European Union.

In June, Lilly won her first victory: She persuaded Central, a major department store chain, to stop giving out plastic bags in its Bangkok stores one day a week.

"I told myself that if the government did not listen to me, it would be necessary to speak directly to those who distribute plastic bags and convince them to stop," she said.

This month, some of the biggest brands, including the operator of the thousands of 7-Eleven convenience stores, pledged to stop handing out single-use plastic bags by January next year.

Mindsets have started to shift this year with the deaths in Thailand of several marine mammals whose stomachs were lined with plastic, stirring emotions.

The demise last month of a baby dugong was mourned on social media, reviving discussion in the government over a proposed ban on most single-use plastics by 2022.

But critics say along with new rules there need to be enforcement mechanisms such as fines.

For now young activists like Lilly can help capture attention.

'It's up to us'

Lilly is Ralyn Satidtanasarn's nickname. The US-Thai youngster started campaigning at the age of eight after a vacation in southern Thailand where she was horrified by a beach covered in rubbish.

"We cleaned up with my parents, but that was not helpful because other waste was thrown out by the sea the next day," she said.

Then came the global movement initiated by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, who has become a key face in the battle against global warming.

Inspired by the young Swede, Lilly did sit-ins in front of the Thai government buildings. "Greta Thunberg gave me confidence. When adults do not do anything, it's up to us children to act," she said.

She will not be in New York alongside Thunberg for a protest on Sept 20 just days before the UN climate conference, though.

"My place is here, the fight is also in Southeast Asia," she says.

Even if she sometimes wants to take a break and "go play" like other kids, she also takes part in cleaning sessions organized by local association Trash Hero.

"Lilly is a very good voice for the youth of this country but the lobbies are very powerful and that makes any change difficult," said Nattapong Nithiuthai, who set up a company that turns discarded waste into flip-flops.

Agence France-presse