Plastic Prose

Crytoscopophilia describes the urge to look through other people’s windows as you walk past.
A new word for me and quickly becoming a firm favourite in my lexicon as well as an enjoyable pastime.
This word discovery led me to wonder what might be the equivalent for ‘the desire to keep things clean’.
A quick google search came back fruitless. The closest we may have seems to be ‘neatfreak’ at best and,
at worst, Obsessive compulsive Disorder. Neither are attractive sounding.
While I am certainly none of the above (my mother will willingly attest to this) I have found myself
growing steadily more concerned about the state and cleanliness of our outside world. Instead of a philia,
perhaps more accurate a word would be ‘phobia’, not of dirt but plastic and its damage causing potential.
This feeling has only heightened since travelling around South East Asia and now living in Vietnam’s
commercial capital, Ho Chi Minh city. To say that there is an obsession with plastic in this part of the
world is not an exaggeration but the cold, hard truth. It’s not flexible and it’s certainly not biodegradable.

This is not to say that countries in the west are perfect with regard to their plastic consumption, far from it,
but in some cases better. A large part of this is due, I believe, to governmental incentives such as
the Plastax’. Attitudes do not change that easily unless economics are involved. Intention, it seems, sees
no action unless rewarded. At this stage we are all well versed in the threat of global warming and climate
change; One hundred and ninety seven countries have signed the Paris agreement, including Vietnam,
and the conversation is focused on the next best thing to Fossil Fuels—what’s trending this
Spring/Summer is renewables. These are both important and highly necessary but should not take away
from rubbish concerns (pun intended).

Plastic waste is most certainly ugly when seen strewn over streets, parks, roadsides and our ocean’s but
also contributes to the buildup of Co2 in our atmosphere. It is the little known but no less dangerous
aide to global warming. Studies have shown that when combined with sunlight (of which Vietnam has
plenty) plastic releases ethylene and methylene, both are potent greenhouse gases—let’s not just blame
the gassy cows. Keeping things clean goes far beyond aesthetics. Recycling the world over is stretched
to its very limits, the onus is on us as consumers to step AWAY from the packaging: alluringly
colourful wrappers, endless plastic bags, silly straws and, particularly in this country, abhorrent throw
away Milk Tea containers. The government must legislate to reduce packaging and introduce bottle
return schemes in order to underpin waste reduction. The city of Surabaya in Indonesia springs to mind,
where citizens can pay for their bus tickets using plastic bottles, encouraging both a spring clean and
the use of public transport. Another fantastic example is the Rimping supermarket in Chiang Mai,
Thailand where plastic packaging has been ditched in favour of banana leaves which are wrapped
around fruits and vegetables and held in place by bamboo.

Vietnam is among the top five countries for dumping plastic into the sea and lies as number four of the
top twenty countries ranked for waste mismanagement. Throwing your rubbish into the recycling bin is
not a solution because, quite simply, recycling is not guaranteed.  Waste management systems are
overrun and cannot keep up with the daily pressure and rising tide of incoming plastic. Shop owners
and businesses via governmental legislation can help to ease the current velleity around environmental
concerns by charging taxes for shoppers that opt to take plastic bags, providing reusable straws in cafes
and applying surcharges to consumers that want take-away drinks in single use containers. Revenues
could be put toward building refillable water stations, providing more bins in public spaces, bottle
banks, public transport options and maybe even a Mekong clean up operation.

This period for me is the season of lent, which back home generally adds up to giving up chocolate and
breaking this rule after approximately three days. Ironically, while staying in a country which does not
practice lent, it is the one year that I manage to take it seriously. I have given up plastic. This is not
easy in any part of the world and over here requires lightning speed reactions to stall owners determined
to shove your Bánh mì into a tiny plastic bag or a plastic spoon and straw (why both?!!) into your iced
coffee/ ice cream/milk tea. The game of charades involves a frustrated blonde foreigner gesticulating
wildly and saying NO! while pointing to the offending piece of plastic. I have since learnt the phrase
‘Không dùng bịch nilon’ which I employ to varying degrees of success depending on my
pronunciation.

I hope that all of us may be able to reframe our attitudes toward cleanliness and environmentalism,

beginning by extending our vocabulary to include, with pride, ‘envirophilia’. The love of our world
and the desire (leading to direct action) to keep it clean and green. Làm Ơn and Cảm ơn from a
concerned Vietnamophile.