Tree species
Most krathong floats were made from natural materials
PUBLISHED : 16 Nov 2024 at 12:47
Officials from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration collect krathong floats from the Chao Phraya River on Friday night. (Photo: Bangkok Metropolitan Administration)
A total of 514,590 krathong floats were collected from Bangkok waterways after Friday’s Loy Krathong festival, down 19.57% from last year. Lat Krabang district saw the highest number of floats.
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) spokesman Ekwaranyu Amrapal said on Saturday that officials from the Department of Environment, the Department of Drainage and Sewerage and all 50 district offices completed the collection and sorting of the floats around 5am Saturday, having started at 8pm Friday.
Of the collected floats, 506,320 (98.39%) were made from natural materials, while 8,270 (1.61%) were made from Styrofoam, said Mr Ekwaranyu.
This year’s total decreased by 125,238 floats from last year’s collection of 639,828. They included 618,951 natural and 20,877 Styrofoam floats.
The percentage of eco-friendly materials increased from 96.74% in 2023 to 98.39% this year, while Styrofoam floats declined from 3.21% to 1.61%.
Lat Krabang district had the most floats, totalling 20,806, while Khlong San district had the least, with 147.
Most krathong floats collected from the Chao Phraya River and other waterways in Bangkok this year are made from natural materials. (Photo: Bangkok Metropolitan Administration)
The BMA also invited people to participate in floating digital krathongs on a website simulating the experience across 34 public parks and along the Chao Phraya River at ICONSIAM mall, resulting in 36,832 digital krathongs.
Digital Loy Krathong festivals were also held at four venues across Bangkok, producing 10,885 digital floats.