Unsung trash heroes save Bangkok from choking on its own waste

Uncle Ban has spent the last decade collecting unwanted waste from people's homes, earning enough to pay for his children's education Photo: Ewen Mcleish

For a long time, I'd been considering a feature article investigating Bangkok's informal waste collectors. These independent workers scour the streets looking to buy or scavenge recyclable materials discarded by the city's waste generating inhabitants. 

My Thai's ok for day-to-day life, but the language barrier blocked my way. Until I met Pavini Sethi of Beesgreen, who also saw these workers as playing a valuable part in our haphazard recycling system. 

Fluent in Thai, she was tireless in searching out a 'seleng' operator who would be willing to be interviewed, and found Uncle Ban working the sois near my work and her home. Thank-you Pavini!

Uncle Ban was a little surprised by my questions, but answered patiently all the same. It was really interesting to hear about his life and his pretty positive view of his work. 

My prejudices were overturned as I'd expected to hear a story of poverty and lack of opportunity, but instead Uncle Ban displayed a kind of determined, gentle contentment about his occupation and life in general. 

Selaeng operators sell recyclables to medium sized businesses who sell to Thailand's larger recycling companies. Photo: Ewen Mcleish

To add some academic background to the article I drew upon the case study 'Closing the Loop: Sai Mai District' produced by the Stockholm Environment Institute and UNESCAP.  It was great that Diane Archer, an author of the study, was able to provide extra details about the situation of informal waste collectors in Bangkok. 

It was also good to come across other businesses and projects in the sector, such as 'Recycle Day' and Less Plastic Thailand (provides a great beginners guide) in the course of my research. 

A 'selaeng' fully loaded and ready to go; all sorts of consumer waste can be resold and used again.     Photo: Ewen Mcleish

One thing that struck me as I put together the piece was the need to raise the status of these informal recyclers so they can gain some recognition for their important environmental work. 

If properly supported, they could be key to ramping up Bangkok's recycling system and clearing up the mess made by throwaway capitalism. 

I hope this article goes some way to persuade more people to take note and support a system for recycling which is already up and running in Bangkok, and on which many livelihoods depend.

Please click through to Coconuts to read the full article. 

Before it spawns the next pandemic, should Thailand stamp out the wildlife trade?

I was excited to see this article published by Bangkok Coconuts. I feel it highlighted the connections between the human exploitation of nature and emerging new diseases - crucial to understanding the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Experts consider bats to be high risk species when it comes to the emergence of new diseases.
Photo: Freeland

I was grateful to Steven Galster of the Bangkok based Freeland Foundation for taking the time to talk to me. 

Here’s the lowdown: With wild animals smuggled through Bangkok’s Khlong Toei port, sold at Chatuchak Weekend Market and exported for sale onward; Thailand is a nexus for the global wildlife trade, and Galster thinks a law banning the commercial trade in wild animals may protect us from the next viral disaster.

Galster has been interviewed by a number of news organizations  about Freeland's campaign to ban the  commercial trade in wild animals. Image: Freeland. 

Not everyone agrees with Freeland and backs a blanket ban. Richard Thomas, spokesman for trade monitoring group Traffic, says total bans are a knee-jerk reaction that are extremely difficult to implement and enforce. He cites the drug trade as an example.

“If the underlying demand persists, it’ll be supplied,” Thomas said.  Big players like the UN Environment Programme, or UNEP look to governments to manage things instead. 

I certainly learned a lot about this troubling situation and received some great comment from readers both on and offline: 'Fascinating, terrifying and superbly written.'

I concluded the article by making the point that: we need to recognize the link between our commercial use of wild animals and new pandemics; to safeguard humanity's future health we should rethink our relationships with our fellow species. 

Of course, reducing the risk of future pandemics is not the only reason we should follow this advice! 

The original article is here, and it also appeared on Singapore's Yahoo Lifestyle site. Please take a look at the full piece. 

 

Did Thailand's plastic bag ban solve our problem?

I started this article before the virus hit and was feeling Thailand's celebratory backslapping over its plastic bag ban needed looking into. 

I wanted to hear from the people who called for the initiative and ask them what more needed to be done. 

It became apparent that the pandemic was creating vast amounts of single use plastic waste so I re-angled the piece, just before publication on regional news site Coconuts, to reflect this. 

During lockdown Bangkok city authorities reported an explosion in levels of plastic waste as people relied on home deliveries and huge numbers of contaminated face masks piled up. 

When the country re-opened, it became obvious the economy and society's wasteful attitude to plastic had not gone away. 

I met with six grassroots environmental change-makers to hear how the battle against single-use plastic has gone and what’s next to protect our environment from plastic peril. 

Photo: Warawat Sabhavasu

Warawat "Bibb" Sabhavasu of Trash Hero Bangkok volunteered to care for Mariam the Dugong, who won and then broke Thai hearts with her internet videos showing cute antics and her subsequent death from ingesting plastic waste.

Photo: Baramee Temboonkiat / Greenpeace 

Tara Buakamsri, Country Director for Greenpeace helps orchestrate campaigns on plastic pollution in Thailand and wants the public to connect their use of throwaway plastic to the bigger environmental picture.

Photo: Grin Green International 

Almost done with school, Marlena Wilson runs Grin Green International - a school based NGO with a mission to rid Thailand of single use plastic. Here she is at a climate strike.

Photo: Biel Calderon / Greenpeace

Bored in class, Nanticha “Lynn” Ocharoenchai was inspired by Greta Thunberg to found the group Climate Strike Thailand and feels people need to understand that climate change is about much more than plastic bags. 

Photo: Ewen Mcleish 

Chanin “Nammon” Srisuma is one of the faces behind Refill Station, the shop-cum-cafe which allows customers to purchase toiletries and household products in pre-loved containers brought from home. 

Photo: Prasopsuk Lerdviriyapiti

Prasopsuk Lerdviriyapiti, aka Eco-Artist Pom, has spent the last 15 years creating art to highlight the plastic tide engulfing Thailand’s seas. She uses plastic waste from Phuket's beaches to put together her masterpieces.

It was a real pleasure to meet and virtually meet all these lovely people and find out their thoughts on the plastic issue and dreams for a brighter, greener future. Thank you to everyone for your time. 

I concluded the article with a call for real government actions on plastic pollution and our wider environmental crisis, and the hope that green strategies will be central to the new policies needed to move Thailand on from the disruption caused by Covid 19. 

The full article is available here on Bangkok Coconuts. 

8 life hacks for greener Bangkok living - now and after the pandemic.

As the world shut down and the Coronavirus pandemic spread across national borders, I noted how the news media was (rightly so) packed with stories and information on this incredible crisis.  

But I wondered how to keep sustainability and the changes we need to support it on the agenda. After all, we couldn't (and still can't) afford to put our environmental crisis 'on the back burner.'  

My Coconuts feature article, highlighting ways to live greener under lockdown, was my response. 

I wanted to showcase some things Bangkok people could do while living under quarantine or in self isolation that may help repair our world if maintained in the long run. 

The 8 ideas for living green and making a difference under lockdown were: 

1. Home working

2. Cycling more

3. Being an armchair activist 

4. Growing your own

5. Going plant-based diet 

6. Becoming a citizen scientist 

7. Eating what you have (a response to panic buying)

8. Finishing those abandoned projects 

Each idea contained a little explanation of the problems to be tackled and why the idea would be beneficial for the planet. 

I was also pleased to give a shout out to the MARsCI citizen science project where Facebook users can upload photos of their marine biology 'spots' to aid research and to Grow Learning Gardens, who produce wooden planters especially designed for Bangkok balconies. 

I end the article by concluding: 

'Cynics may ask, why bother with all these efforts as health care systems struggle and the economy tanks? While 2020’s COVID-19 crisis is extremely challenging, it pales in comparison to our environmental crisis. From crisis comes opportunity, and positive steps like those above are not only good for the soul, adding hope and value to our lives, but they may translate into some of the big changes needed to solve the planetary peril we face.'

It's a fresher piece, with more of my own 'voice' and opinion in it than usual.  I wrote it with more urgency than normal. 

I hope it was inspiring in the dark times we were experiencing. To read the full article: click here.