Polylactic Acid and Thailand (PLA)
Two of the three largest PLA producers are connected to Thailand.
- NatureWorks – American &Thai joint venture between Cargill and PTT
- TotalEnergies Corbion – French & Dutch joint venture between TotalEnergies and Corbion
Both companies are related to Thailand:
- NatureWorks: PTT (one of the owner of NatureWorks) is a Thai state owned oil company. NatureWorks has one PLA plant in the US and is currently building a second PLA plant in Thailand.
- TotalEnergies Corbion has one PLA plant in Thailand.
Political Crisis in Thailand
Democracy is at stake in Thailand. There were elections in May 2023 and the ‘Move Forward Party’ won the elections and created an 8-parties coalition to form a ‘majority’ in the House of Representatives to create a government. However, Thai institutions are blocking the democratic process.
Thai voters were motivated to vote for the Move Forward Party because the people were discontent over nine years of military rule and the outsize prerogatives enjoyed by the Thai royal family. Remember, there had been a military coup d’état in 2014 by the army and the military are still in power since that day. Here are two articles related to the current political situation inThailand
Party that won Thai elections blocked from forming coalition government:
Everybody Won in Thailand’s Election, Except the Voters
How can you help the Thai people?
There’s a need for change in Thailand. Thailand is one of the most beautiful countries on earth but when you visit the country you realise that the country faces (1) a serious prostitution problem, and (2) allows the exploitation of elephants. Let me re-phrase this: Thailand is the world’s brothel and an animal unfriendly country.
You can support democracy in Thailand by ‘temporary’ boycotting PLA. Thailand is heavily involved in PLA. Show your support to the Thai people and boycott PLA produced by NatureWorks and TotalEnergies Corbion. How do you do it?
Just ‘freeze’ your PLA orders of Ingeo (NatureWorks) and Luminy (TotalEnergies Corbion) PLA until the elections results are respected in Thailand and clearly make that statement to those two companies.
Let me re-phrase this: freeze your PLA orders and share the reason why you do so to NatureWorks and TotalEnergies Corbion.
This will force “NatureWorks” and “TotalEnergies Corbion” to leverage their political power and put pressure on the Thai institutions to respect democratic results and install democracy in Thailand.
This is how you can support Thai people from behind your desk and PC. It’s a quick win and a way to be a passive democratic activist.
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