Go Green on Loy Krathong Day this year

One of the most beautiful festivals in Thailand is Loy Krathong which takes place on the full moon in November every year. It’s a way of paying respect to Mother Nature by giving an offering of this krathong and floating it on the water with a candle and incense sticks. People thank Mother Nature for giving them water, but at the same time apologize for polluting the rivers over the past year. Other people believe that all of their bad luck will float away with the krathong.

It is rather ironic that people float krathongs to apologize for polluting rivers when they often use plastic or foam krathongs during the ceremonies. In recent years, there has been campaigns to encourage people to switch to something more environment friendly. For example made from banana plants. In recent years, I have seen more krathongs being made from bread which seems to be the ultimate green friendly krathong. Float your krathong and feed the fish at the same time.

In The Nation this morning, they had some statistics from the Department of Environment Quality Promotion which listed the different kinds of krathongs collected by the BMA in Bangkok at the end of the evening.

2008
Total floats: 929,329
Made with banana leaf: 759,918
With styrofoam: 117,997
Other natural materials: 51,414

2009
Total floats: 882,418
Made with banana leaf: 717,847
With styrofoam: 112,854
Other natural materials: 51,171

2010
Total floats: 946,838
Made with banana leaf: 767,533
With styrofoam: 118,575
Other natural |materials: 60,730

2011
Total floats: 322,779
Made with banana leaf: 237,718
With styrofoam: 57,837
Other natural materials: 27,224

2012
Total floats: 916,354
Made with banana leaf: 693,976
With styrofoam: 131,338
Other natural materials: 91,040