Recycling catching on in Thailand cities

By Chularat Saengpassa -The Nation

Garbage separation is now catching on among an even wider sector of the Thai population. At many companies in Bangkok, office workers no longer throw their empty water bottles into dustbins but put them into special boxes for cleaners to trade for a few dozen baht each day.

Some office workers also take the empty bottles back home so that they earn extra income. At schools too, a similar trend can be seen.

Most students know empty carbonated beverage cans and disposable plastic bottles are recyclable and they put them in designated spots for their greener world.

At Thammasat University's Rangsit Campus, the garbage bank project garnered over 400 tonnes of recyclable garbage in 2007 and 2008.

When sold, this massive amount of unwanted plastic and paper earns the project nearly Bt3.5million.

In Chiang Mai, efforts are up and running to organise the systematic collection of recyclable garbage in the northern province too.

"We have now registered more than 50 homeless people as scrap workers. They have uniforms and they go around town to collect recyclable stuff," Chiang Mai Iam Project manager Nuttaphong Jaruwunnaphong said recently.

Kiak Shai sae Tang, an independent scrap worker in Chiang Mai, recalls he used to earn Bt1,000 a day when he first collected recyclable garbage for sale in 1995.

"But now I earn only Bt300 a day because there's not so much recyclable stuff left in garbage bins," he said.

Kiak Shai said in recent years, city residents had become more aware of garbage values and many were not embarrassed to sell garbage for money.

"I've seen company workers selling recyclable and no-longer-wanted stuff from their offices," the elderly man said.

He said some well-dressed people have been seen driving around public parks collecting empty cans and water bottles for sale.

"That's why today I can find so few such items in the garbage bins," Kiak Shai said.

Thanks to garbage separation, the Wongpanit Recycling Factory's business is blooming and can sell franchises to investors interested in recycling scraps.

Franchisees, like Wongpanit Salaya-Nakhonchaisri, open their doors to individuals who wish to sell their throw-away stuff.

Although the garbage separation and recycling businesses are a good trend, they can lead people into falsely believing they have already acted in the best interests of the environment.

The environment in fact would be better off if humans were more cautious about their consumption.

Apart from "Recycle", everyone should think about two Rs of Reduce and Reuse.

Before global warming was seen as a risk, humans did not rely on bottled water. They carried flasks to quench their thirst during the day.

Today, city people rely on bottled water so much they drink it not only when they go out. For the sake of convenience, they even consume it at home.

So just as we have been taking notice of the recycle trend, we should be reminded that we have to reuse and reduce our consumption where possible too.

http://www.bahtsold.com/news?id=2352