microbeads, cap seals, and OXO-degradable plastics by the end of 2019. Four single-use plastics to be prohibited by 2022 are lightweight plastic bags less than 36 microns thick, Styrofoam takeaway food containers, plastic cups, and plastic straws. All plastic used in Thailand by 2027 is to be recycled plastic. On World Environment Day 2019, 5 June, the Pollution Control Department (PCD) said that the first year of the country's effort to reduce plastic waste has been a success. It claimed an 80% reduction in the plastic wrap used to keep dust off plastic water bottle caps. The Environment Ministry has created a National Roadmap to Tackle Plastic Waste, 2018-2030. PCD data shows that 0.5 million tonnes of plastic waste in Thailand was recycled in 2018 of the total two million tonnes of plastic waste generated. In April 2019, Marium, an abandoned and ailing baby dugong washed up on a beach in southern Thailand. She was found to be suffering from an infection exacerbated by ingesting plastic waste. Overnight, she became the nation's sweetheart. Authorities did everything in their power to save her. In August, she died. Within a day the environment minister announced a national dugong conservation master plan named "Marium Action". Marium's body would be preserved for educational and awareness-raising purposes and 17 August was proposed as National Dugong Day. New dudong conservation zones were proposed. The prime minister pledged to "leave no one behind, including animals". In the same appearance, the prime minister delayed a ban on single-use plastic bags until 2022. Finally, a ban on single-use plastic bags at major retailers was enacted. taking effect on 1 January 2020. The ban exempts, until 2021, the 40% of total volume of single-use bags used at wet markets and restaurants. Bag manufacturers have cried foul, arguing that the solution to plastic pollution is proper disposal of bags and recycling. To make matters worse for the manufacturers, eight TV channels signed an agreement with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on 2 January 2020 to blur images and footage of single-use plastic bags on-screen, as is done in Thailand for firearms, cigarettes, and alcohol. Concomitantly, Thailand imported 480,000 tonnes of plastic garbage from abroad in 2018, and is set to import an additional 220,000 tonnes before existing contracts expire in September 2020. Between 2014 and 2018 Thailand imported 906,521 tonnes of plastic from 81 countries, according to the Commerce