Trash Hero Thailand | Trash Hero World

Transforming trash into merit at a Thai temple

by Seema on 19/07/2019 No comments

Our Trash Hero chapter in Langsuan, Chumphon Province, Thailand, has come up with an ingenious scheme to motivate local residents to separate and recycle their waste.

In an area with no waste management infrastructure – not even basic garbage collection – most households either dump or openly burn their trash, as they have done for generations. The difference, of course, is that 20 – 30 years ago, the waste was mainly biodegradable. Now, the majority is toxic plastic.

Working together with sub-district adminstrations; local schools; hospitals; private sector representatives; and a local temple, our Trash Hero volunteers created a “waste bank” scheme, launched at an official ceremony on 24 June 2019.

Communal life in this mainly rural area is focused around Wat Ratchaburana, a royal monastery in Tha Maphla sub-district. So the headquarters of the “waste bank” is located here. With the support of the Abbot and the resident monks, the local villagers can bring their separated waste to the temple, or to 9 other collection points – one in each village in the district. Organic waste will be used to make biogas and fertiliser; cleaned plastic will be recycled, with all proceeds going to the temple.

A typical “waste bank”, such as those found in Indonesia, incentivises recycling through personal financial gain. People are encouraged to make “deposits” of their recyclable waste at a central location. Each type of waste carries a market value and is exchanged for a fixed rate. The waste bank administration then sells this trash on to local recyclers and places the income received (minus a small admin fee for running costs) into each person’s account. Records are kept in a “bank book” and withdrawals are allowed at any time.

In Langsuan, this concept has been taken and combined with the Thai Buddhist tradition of “merit-making“. One of the most basic ways to accumulate merit in this culture is to practice almsgiving to local monks. This involves making regular monetary or in-kind donations of food, clothing or household goods. Villagers can now instead donate their trash, and gain the same merit: the slogan of the Langsuan scheme, roughly translated from the Thai, is “Transform a pile of trash into a pile of merit”.

This is a very powerful association, providing an incentive to recycle that goes well beyond the monetary value of the waste. Recycling becomes not just a source of income that can be donated to the temple; but a source of good karma, a virtuous deed that will lead to a better next life for the donors and their families.

In addition, the “deposit days”, on which the bank is open for business, are on the Buddhist holy days, when it is customary to make a special offering to the temple. To make the link even clearer, the name has been changed from “waste bank” to “merit bank” (Thai: ธนาคารบุญ / thanakhan buh!n).

The poster above explains the scheme and shows the nine village collection points

Suttipun Suwanbundit, the leader of Trash Hero Langsuan, explained: “the heart of the issue we have here is that people simply will not separate their waste. It is mixed all together – rotting food and recyclable waste – which makes it impossible to do anything with. The use of law or fines is just not effective for Thai people. There have been big campaigns but then after the initial fuss, people would quietly go back to their old habits. We needed a continuous solution and one that showed people a clear benefit in waste separation, which would give them a reason to do it long term.”

Alongside the merit bank, Trash Hero Langsuan volunteers, in conjunction with the temple and related government departments, will be holding education sessions for local residents on how to reduce waste, in particular plastic. With the endorsement of the Abbot, who carries great authority in these deeply religious rural communities, the scheme has already seen a large uptake.

Trash Hero Langsuan is grateful for the cooperation and support of the District Health Committee, Quality of Life Development Committee, Waste Management Commmittee and all other stakeholders that enabled the project to come to life.

Putting volunteers first

by Seema on 26/06/2019 1 comment

The latest round of Trash Hero Family Meetings drew to a close this week in Zurich, Switzerland. The city was one of two new European locations that hosted our regular team-building, training and networking event for volunteers – the other being in Prague, Czech Republic, earlier this month.

The new additions reflect the rapid growth of Trash Hero within Europe: there are now active chapters not only in Switzerland and the Czech Republic, but also in Serbia and Romania.

Trash Hero Switzerland Family Meeting in Zurich, June 2019

However, the season kicked off in April, back in Southeast Asia where the Trash Hero movement began. Trash Hero Malaysia and Singapore volunteers gathered in Kota Kinabalu from 25 – 27 April, followed by Trash Hero Indonesia teams on 2 – 4 May in Bali. Our Thai chapter leaders met in Khao Lak from 10 – 12 May, while Trash Hero Myanmar hosted their volunteers in Yangon, from 15 – 17 May.

The family meetings have become key engagements in our organisation’s calendar: as a diverse and dispersed network, they provide us with the vital time and space for immersive, face to face communication that helps to equip and motivate volunteers for the coming months. They are normally held twice a year: in April – May and October – November.

Trash Hero Indonesia volunteers clean up with a local school at their family meeting in Bali, May 2019

This time, alongside our usual activities, our chapter leaders learned how to carry out “brand audits” during their cleanups, recording the volume of the plastic packaging we regularly pick up, as well as the companies who manufacture it. The data collected over the coming year will be provided to our partner organisations, who can use it to push for systemic change in the production and disposal of single use plastic.

Members of the Break Free From Plastic coalition, who are driving corporate campaigns and global policy change, kindly joined us in Thailand to help with this important training, as we increasingly focus on connecting our communities’ experience of plastic pollution to the bigger picture.

The Break Free From Plastic team helped to train our Thai volunteers in Khao Lak, May 2019

Below are some video highlights from the recent events in Southeast Asia and Czech Republic, created entirely by the volunteers who attended them.

[Czech language only]

In total, 213 chapter leaders from 93 locations were able to join this series of family meetings – more than 90% of our global network. The total cost for all six meetings (the majority of which last 2 – 3 full days) was under $29,500, or around $138 per volunteer. This includes travel, accommodation and food for all participants, including the Trash Hero World team and external speakers. We are very grateful for the many hours of work donated in kind, as well as the monetary donations, that allow us to organise these events and continue investing in our volunteers and the amazing work they are doing around the world.

Trash Hero Bangkok Joins Thai Stakeholders and the UNEP to Innovate Market-Based Solutions for Marine Litter Reduction

by Leslie Finlay on 10/06/2019 No comments

Last week, Trash Hero Bangkok joined regional stakeholders at a United Nations Environmental Programme-led conference in Bangkok dedicated to tackling the transboundary challenge of marine litter.

Globally, more than 80 percent of plastic marine debris comes from land-based sources. And in Asia, both rapid development and economic success has strained waste management – an issue that these stakeholders believe can be remedied by inter-sector collaboration together with galvanized public support.

Conference stakeholders gather to kick off discussions on reducing marine litter | Source: Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment

Trash Heroes in Thailand have been coordinating this grassroots energy since 2013, forging community awareness of our individual roles within the global waste problem. Through action-based efforts like clean-ups and issue-focused education, Trash Hero Thailand has been a leading force to develop the public salience necessary for successful waste and plastic management to take root – to the tune of more than 79,500 volunteers educated and keeping nearly 600,000 kilograms of trash from entering the Thai marine ecosystems to date.

This new initiative led by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) called ‘The Southeast Asia Circular – solving plastic pollution at source’ connects nonprofit leaders like Trash Hero together with local government agencies, private sector representatives, and academic experts to collaborate toward market-based solutions and policies that reduce plastic production, waste, and mitigate its threats to the environment.

Source: UN Environment

Market-based conservation solutions are those that rely on the use of economic principles to achieve beneficial environmental outcomes. Research demonstrates that such approaches encourages environmental stewardship and fosters knowledge-based conservation, and successful policy comes from deliberately connecting producers and consumers. This can involve the creation of ecological markets, promoting education and public awareness, and coordinating competitors and their resources within the marketplace under a common, ecologically-driven goal.

Innovative solutions that stand to reduce marine waste are those that span the whole plastic value chain, starting with what the UNEP calls a “people-centred approach.” Through projects that support vulnerable groups impacted by plastic waste and prioritizing public education, Trash Hero has helped lay the groundwork for such coordination across the value chain through initiatives like its reusable bottles and bags project. In Thailand alone, Trash Hero has reduced upwards of 25 million plastic bottles and 6.5 million plastic bags by promoting and providing sustainable alternatives among Thais and tourists alike.

Trash Heroes in Bangkok

Such action has helped inspire complementary regulatory action: the Thai government recently announced it will phase out seven types of plastic between 2019 and 2022, with the ultimate goal of achieving a waste-free economy by 2027. This is in concert with other strategies like that of the Food and Drug Administration of Thailand, which is revising restrictions on the use of plastic in items like food packaging.

Bangkok Trash Hero Warawat Sabhavasu participated in the Stakeholder & Engagement breakout discussion, where he showcased local success stories of the progress Trash Heroes have made in the region. The UN highlighted this work in its closing ceremony, commending the action-based change Trash Heroes stand for.

Trash Hero at the UNEP Stakeholder & Engagement break out discussion

Conference stakeholders framed additional sustainability-driven solutions within the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, guided by a sufficiency economy philosophy that prioritizes balanced development and community resilience. This focus highlights how the success of innovative solutions – like green operating principles presented by Coca-Cola Thailand Ltd. and IKEA Southeast Asia, or circular economic strategies laid out by local government officials – is grounded in the work of Trash Heroes building public awareness, support, and grassroots action.

Zero Waste Ramadan

by Seema on 09/05/2019 No comments

Many of our chapters across Southeast Asia are observing the holy month of Ramadan, which started on 5 May.

Cleanups for the most part have been suspended as communities will be fasting during daylight hours. However, our volunteers are still very active! The main focus is on the daily “Ramadan markets”, which provide easy, takeaway food for people who do not wish to cook during this time, as well as special treats only found during this month.

Usually a visit to the market will result in an average of 8 – 10 single-use plastic bags being used, along with an array of hard plastic boxes, cups and straws. All will end up in landfill, or worse.

On social media, and out on the streets, chapters in Malaysia and the south of Thailand have been encouraging shoppers to bring their own containers and bags for all food and drink purchases, to cut down on waste.

Trash Hero Pattani, together with Plogging Pattani are running a competition where people have to snap a photo of themselves at a market with their tiffin box, tupperware, resuable bag or cup and hashtag ‪#‎ramadanchallenge1440‬ to win their own Trash Hero t-shirt. You can join the challenge on Facebook.

Trash Hero Langkawi volunteers, meanwhile, are engaging shoppers at their local market, by bringing their own food containers and carrier bags for buying their breaking fast food. The idea is to set a good example, as well as start a conversation about waste and how to reduce plastic usage.

Their efforts have been reported in the New Straits Times and on local television.

We wish all of our Muslim volunteers a peaceful and blessed Ramadan.

Microplastics in Maya Bay!

by Seema on 10/04/2019 No comments

Maya Bay is famous throughout the world: first as “The Beach” in the Leonardo Dicaprio movie of the same name and, more recently, as the beach that was closed to the public due to excessive damage from tourist traffic.

Trash Hero Koh Phi Phi had the privilege of holding a recent cleanup on the now deserted beach, by invitation of the Marine National Park Research Centre 3 and the head of the Maya Bay Rehabillitation Project, Supaporn Prempee.

Together with the National Park rangers and Ocean Quest, an international NGO who are overseeing the coral nursery program in the bay, 26 volunteers carried out the first ever microplastic survey on the beach.

“Despite the beach having been cleaned of all visible debris several times since the closure in June 2018, we were able to find 1.5kg of micro plastic particles [small pieces < 5mm in length], in an area of 150sqm [30m x 5m],” said Caroline Lecky from the local Trash Hero team.

That’s thousands of buried pieces of plastic, mostly invisible to the naked eye as you walk along the sand. The majority of these were “secondary microplastics”, or fragments of larger plastic items such as bottles and foam boxes that have broken down in the sun and ocean currents. Plastic never biodegrades. There are likely to be more, even finer particles that slipped through the sieves.

Anuar Abdullah, the founder of Ocean Quest, said of the micro plastic survey that: “the data will be saved and we will do regular sifting of the designated area to see if there is any reduction.”

In total, the team collected and removed 308kg of trash from the stunning Thai beach.

Thanks to Blue View Divers and also Barakuda Diving, who sponsored the transport and cleaning materials for the day, and to David and Parn for the beautiful video. Our thanks also to the Maya Beach Protection Unit 5 (National Park) for hosting Trash Hero, providing fruit and refreshments and joining the cleanup.

Together we make a difference – brands edition!

by Seema on 21/03/2019 No comments

At Trash Hero we have always believed that cooperation is the key to creating long term behavioural change. That’s why we are very excited about our latest collaboration with Sonni Hönscheid, the six-time SUP world champion, MIZU, Starboard and Brands for Good.

All of us share the same goal, as Sonni puts it: “to get societies’ attention and sensitise them to live a more sustainable life.”

Sonni, a talented artist as well as sportsperson, designed a beautiful resuable stainless steel water bottle for MIZU, a company founded by a fellow athlete, Olympic snowboarder Jussi Oksanen. Since 2008, MIZU has been dedicated to reducing single use plastics in the outdoor adventure field.

The artwork was based on a painting Sonni created in Maui (pictured above), inspired by the beauty of the ocean and its diverse inhabitants.

[Above: The original promotional material: the bottle is now sold out, but more may be on the way!]

With the support of Starboard, Sonni’s paddle board partner and a long-time sponsor of Trash Hero, and the organisation Brands for Good, who present sustainable products and social projects within the sports industry, the limited edition “Love Your Ocean” bottle was launched at ISPO Munich 2019, with all proceeds from its sale going to support the work of Trash Hero World. And to make the project even more synergistic, MIZU provided free water refills during the trade show for everyone who purchased the bottle.

Starboard’s Albert Font de Rubinat, who is also one of the team running Trash Hero Bangkok, was there in Munich and took part in a panel discussion with Sonni Hönscheid, Tim Pogue (MIZU) and Frank Lohse (Brands for Good), about the importance of sustainability.

The bottle was a hit, and MIZU continued sales on its European website following the event, raising a total of CHF 1,930. The original artwork by Sonni Hönscheid that inspired the design was also auctioned at the ISPO trade fair, fetching CHF 2,105 – all of which has been donated to Trash Hero World, along with CHF 500 from Starboard.

We are very grateful to all concerned: not just for the much needed funds, which will go to our projects in Thailand, but also for the opportunity to collaborate and show the impact it is possible to have by working across traditional divides.

Bag yourself the new Tasini x Trash Hero turtle

by Seema on 05/02/2019 1 comment

We are delighted to launch the Trash Hero edition of #tasini and #inibags, as part of our ongoing Bottles & Bags programme. The bags are a collaboration with the social enterprise Making Oceans Plastic Free, with the idea of reusing plastic bottles to help reduce plastic bag waste.

The branded resuable shoppers come in two versions: in a plain yellow pouch (Inibag) or with a cute turtle pouch (Tasini), to promote awareness of the ecosystem we want to protect.

⭐️ With this bag you save two✌️ plastic bottles from polluting the environment 👉 Each Bag is made from 2 recycled plastic bottles ♻️!
⭐️ Handmade in Indonesia!
⭐️ Attached to a keychain 🔑 so you won’t forget your reusable bag any more. Save 💯s of plastic bags each year!
⭐️ And the #tasini Trash Hero Turtle 🐢 helps you spread the message of awareness about plastic pollution and inspire the change in people around you!

Bags are distributed at cost by our chapters in Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Switzerland, New York and Finland. Get in touch with your nearest chapter for more information.

Leatherback turtles return to nest in Trash Hero Khao Lak’s community!

by Seema on 30/12/2018 2 comments

For the first time in five years, leatherback turtles have laid eggs on Thai shores.

Leatherbacks are the largest, deepest-diving and farthest-ranging of all the sea turtles, and are known to have existed on Earth since the time of the dinosaurs, 110 million years ago. Yet they are on the brink of worldwide extinction.

Mai Khao Beach in Phuket and Thai Muang Beach in Phang Nga were once their favoured spots in Thailand to lay their eggs, but the turtles have rarely been seen here for the last 15 years, with the last recorded nesting in Mai Khao in 2013.

Leatherback turtles prefer beaches with a slope, to limit the distance from the sea to dry sand; without bright lights; and free of debris. If no suitable spot is found, the female may return to sea without laying her eggs. It will be another 3 – 4 years before she is ready to try again.

Coastal development and marine pollution are therefore the key factors in their recent disappearance from Andaman shores.

But on 17 December 2018, a 1.25m female leatherback was spotted on Khuk Khak Beach in Phang Nga province, nesting in front of Khao Lak Orchid Beach Resort during daylight hours.

Perhaps disturbed by the people observing, the young mother laid her 118 eggs slightly below the high water mark. After being alerted, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (8th Division) recovered 93 viable embryos to be moved further up the beach for safety. The 89 surviving eggs are now under 24 hour surveillance and monitoring.

You can see a live web feed from the 6 CCTV cameras monitoring the nesting site here: http://loveseaturtle.dmcr.go.th

Nine days later, another leatherback nest was found by villagers just before dawn in Ban Tha Sai, Thai Muang district, some 39km from the original spot in Khuk Khak. It is not known whether the eggs are from the same mother, although the size of the imprint suggests the second nest was made by a larger female – and this time it was above the high water mark. These eggs are also under surveillance.

Pakawat “Parn” Winyukul, the leader of Trash Hero Khao Lak, visited the team from the DMCR tasked with the monitoring the Khuk Khak site a few days after the find. He reported that there was great excitement and that every care was being taken to ensure that the eggs would be safely incubated. Surface temperature of the sand was being checked every two hours, and the relative humidity and temperature of the nest, 90cm under the ground was also being monitored.

The eggs should take between 60 – 72 days to hatch. Temperature plays a large part in the success – and also determines the sex – of the brood.

Parn visiting the DMCR team at the Khuk Khak surveillance site

The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources extended thanks to all Trash Hero volunteers for helping to keep this stretch of coastline clean over the past two years, saying this had directly contributed to the turtles’ return.

“Of course, Khuk Khak beach [the site of the first nest] is kept pretty clean by the two hotels located there,” explained Parn, “and other groups such as the Department of National Parks also do cleanups on this coast, so we can’t take the credit. It’s really a whole community effort that has led to these wonderful events.

“But DMCR did stress that the [10+ tons of] garbage we have removed in this area over the past two years has had an effect on the local marine ecosystem, as that stuff would blow or wash back into the sea without regular removal.

Trash Hero Khao Lak volunteers cleaning Thai Muang beach with the Dept. of National Parks

“It was a really proud moment for me to know that our small efforts can have such an amazing effect – really the best New Year gift ever!” continued a visibly emotional Parn. “The leatherback mother turtles and their babies will be an inspiration for everyone at Trash Hero Khao Lak as we continue our work in 2019.”

Prof. Dr. Thon Thamrongnawasawat, Thailand’s leading marine biologist and veteran environmental campaigner, pictured below (in the white polo shirt) with Parn, visited the surveillance centre at its launch. He also expressed his gratitude to local community groups who have been cleaning the beaches, and appealed for more efforts to reduce single use plastic bags in particular, which the turtles mistake for jellyfish – their main source of food.

He said the sites in Phang Nga were leading the world in terms of the protection provided for the leatherback nests and that the evidence of healthy females gives him hope of a recovery in the Andaman population. There is certainly a renewed sense of optimism after the dire warnings issued last year by the Director-General of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation about the continued absence of the giant turtles.

The nesting season for leatherbacks is usually from November to February, with females returning to the area where they were born and laying up to 10 times, with intervals of 10 – 12 days. So all concerned are praying there will be more eggs to come.

According to the Leatherback Trust, only 25 % of hatchlings will make it through their first few days in the ocean, with around six percent surviving their first year. The Royal Thai Navy’s Sea Turtle Nursery at Thap Lamu, located near the nesting sites, will therefore look after the baby turtles until they are strong enough to be released back into the wild.

UPDATE: 11 February 2019

The first set of baby turtles have hatched:

Sharing, learning and networking at the Family Meetings

by Seema on 07/12/2018 1 comment

“Gained new knowledge.”
“Sharing insight and ideas.”
“We know that we are not alone!”

That was just some of the feedback from our recent series of “Trash Hero Family Meetings” held in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia this autumn 2018.

These twice-yearly events bring together our local chapter leaders from each country with the Trash Hero World team, external speakers and like minded local NGOs, for three days of workshops, education sessions, informal networking and above all boosting our energy as a movement.

Although each country’s agenda is different, certain elements are the same: we have a “leaders’ academy” for new chapters to learn the ropes of weekly cleanups, the bottle program and so on, with our in-country mentor teams; advanced sessions on particular aspects of our work, for example quality standards or public speaking; and an education day where we meet others doing similar work, to network and learn from their experience.

Logistics for the events are entirely covered by our donations, so no volunteers need be out of pocket for accommodation, food or travel; we pay expenses for actual costs, rather than per diem. Of course, all the work of organising the meetings is done for free, by more of our volunteers (special thanks to Nan, Ulli, Rima and Fancy!); and no speakers are paid.

In Thailand, we stayed at Ban Sabai Hostel in Bangkok from 19 – 21 October; in Malaysia at Langkawi Dormitorio from 27 – 29 October; and in Indonesia at Michi Retreat, Kememai Hostel and Lagas Hostel in Ubud, Bali from 2 – 4 November: our thanks to them, our venue hosts Frangipani Resort (Langkawi) and Museum of Marketing (Bali), and our other sponsors for their support. A full report, with accounting, will follow in the New Year.

For the first time since we started the Family Meetings in 2016, we sent out a multilingual online feedback survey to follow up on participants’ experience of the event.

From the 44% of attendees who replied, we had an overwhelming endorsement for the meetings, with on average 98.4% of respondents saying they were satisfied or very satisfied with the outcomes.

There were also some helpful comments and great ideas about how to improve for next time, including moving the venues to different areas for chapters to “host”; more outdoor activities, such as joint “model” cleanups; and earlier communication of the agenda.

As technology is always a barrier to participation in Southeast Asia, we will also ensure there is an offline version of the survey available at the next meetings in April – May 2019, to enable higher participation.

Let’s round up with some of the comments from the survey.

“I am very happy, I get many new friends, new information. Later the information that I got, I will practice.”
“The information on WtE [Waste to Energy] and how other chapters run was very valuable. We know that we are not alone to solve problems.”
“It is really nice to meet all of the people who are working on this together. It makes you feel like you are not alone in this battle.”

See you next time!

20 Trash Heroes show us their butts!

by Monika on 05/11/2018 No comments

27 October 2018, Chalatat Beach, Songkhla, Southern Thailand: 20 Trash Heroes collected 15 kg of trash… and then patiently counted the number of cigarette butts. The total?

2146!

They published their findings to social media, pointing out that it is worth not only collecting big pieces of trash but also to pay attention to small pieces on beaches and streets.

This number may seem shocking but if you try to collect cigarette butts on your beach or in your street, you will also end up with a surprisingly full bag.

“We hopefully make a good impact on people and make them walk and clean around the beach. We want to make them aware of their environmental community and take care of beaches,” said Arnont, the Trash Hero Songkhla leader.

What are the effects of discarded cigarette butts?

Discarded cigarette filters are full of dangerous toxins that can easily leach into the ground, the rivers or the oceans. The toxins work like poison for living organisms – one survey found that only one cigarette butt in approximately two gallons of water is strong enough to kill water fleas (source CleanVirginiaWaterways). Cigarette butts can also harm animals or small children, who may accidentally eat them.

What to do with cigarette butts?

After your cigarette, throw the butt into the nearest trash bin. Or get a small tin or pocket ashtray, where you can collect cigarette butts and throw them in the bin later. Completely extinguished cigarette butts can also be used to fill ecobricks.

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We are happy that so many Trash Heroes all around the world care about the environment and don’t want to overlook these small pieces of trash like cigarette butts.

Thank you!

Have you collected cigarette butts and counted them? Send us a picture from your next clean-up!