Bring your own container campaign takes off in Trang

by Seema on 17/09/2018 No comments

Our amazing Trash Hero chapters are always going the extra mile to involve their communities. In Trang Province in Thailand, the team have recently launched a campaign to “bring your own” reusable bottle, bag, cutlery or container when out shopping or ordering takeaway food.

Their aim is to persuade local businesses – and not just the usual suspects like hip coffee shops, but market stalls and travelling street vendors, too – to offer a discount to any customer who brings a reusable container to take home their products, avoiding the use of a disposable, single-use plastic equivalent.

So far more than 30 vendors have signed up to the scheme, offering discounts of anything from 5 baht (15¢) to 10% off your purchase.

Jean-Luc, one of the Trash Hero Trang leaders (pictured top), reported a positive response to their efforts, saying “the issue [of plastic pollution] is now very big in Thailand. As well as being concerned personally, shop owners understand this initiative is another way to attract customers and also save costs”.

If you’re visiting Trang, check out the list of participating businesses on the Facebook link here : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2188193051253079&type=1&l=e40f0258ee – and don’t forget to bring your containers!

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SeemaBring your own container campaign takes off in Trang

12 Million Plastic Bottles Saved… and Counting

by Leslie Finlay on 17/08/2017 No comments

As Trash Hero aims to change the behaviors that lead to unsustainable waste production, we strive to enable individuals and communities with the tools to do so.

Many regions of the world, particularly in Southeast Asia, have experienced a rapid growth of tourism that has left the capacity of local trash management far behind. The “Love Thailand” water bottles are just one tool available to curb unsustainable production of plastic bottles that will never break down fully in our environment. The program has been steadily growing since December 2014, first launched by the communities of Koh Lipe, Koh Lanta and Chaing Mai. Today, 14 locations in Thailand distribute the bottles.

Sold at cost price at cleanups, hotels and restaurants, distributors make a commitment to provide refilling stations where the Trash Hero bottles can be filled without charge. As of the end of July 2017, 33,000 bottles had been sold at 181 participating businesses throughout Thailand. This equates to more than 12 million plastic bottles that were not produced.

The success in Thailand spurred Trash Hero Indonesia’s interest to also supply the reusable bottles. The first order of 2,000 “Love Indonesia” Trash Hero bottles began distribution earlier this year.

Find out where you can get your own Trash Hero reusable bottle or how to become a participating business.

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Leslie Finlay12 Million Plastic Bottles Saved… and Counting

Ecobricks Success with Trash Hero Trang

by Leslie Finlay on 31/07/2017 1 comment

Below, Trash Hero Trang shares their successes with using Ecobricks, in their effort to turn the plastic waste that we already have into indefinitely reusable building blocks.

The idea behind an Ecobrick is simple: it’s a plastic bottle stuffed solid with non-biological waste to create a reusable building block. They keep plastic from entering the ecosystem and empowers communities to adopt zero-cost solid waste solutions with many practical applications.

Read on to see how Trash Hero Trang transformed their community and limited unsustainable disposal of non-renewable plastic waste.

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“Of course, we carry reusable bags to make our purchases, and avoid plastic bags or other disposable plastic containers as much as possible but, despite our good will, after sorting, we still had non recyclable plastic waste.

When we heard about the Ecobricks during a Trash Hero meeting in Bangkok, it did not take us long to understand that this concept was a small revolution. Easy to implement, this system is a real solution that enables a household to reduce the non-recyclable plastic waste that would ultimately go to landfill to virtually zero trash.

When we have such a solution and we are aware of the problem of waste and the resulting pollution, we can only try to disseminate that information as much as possible.

Our neighbors immediately understood the same thing as us and, after a few hours, proudly brought us their first Ecobricks!

We have of course shared the information on our Trash Hero Trang page, as well on our personal pages and posted many photos showing the people participating to do some eco bricks. The message spread, and since then, we have been constantly receiving requests for information from people who want to make Ecobricks.

Recently, two teachers decided to create Ecobricks with their pupils; Mrs Arak Uanpanjasin from Saparachinee2 school in Trang, pictured above, and Mrs Piyawan Arunpraphakorn from Budtason school in Surathani, is doing the same with her pupils and intends to use the Ecobricks to build something in their school!

For now, Trash Hero Thailand and all its chapters, so of course, Trash Hero Trang, send their Ecobricks to the Bamboo School in Kanchanaburi, which takes care of children. When their eco-housing project based on Ecobricks as materials will be realized, we hope to help other more local projects in the region of Trang with Ecobricks.

The most amazing thing in that project is to see the reactions of the people who participate – how happy, how excited and how proud the people are to do something good for the environment and at the same time to participate to build something for someone in need in their own community.

It feels so good to be a Trash Hero…”

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To learn more about Ecobricks and draw inspiration for your local community, visit their website and learn to create big change from building blocks.

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Leslie FinlayEcobricks Success with Trash Hero Trang