Recycling Projects
The Problem: In Phuket, roughly 70% of rubbish arriving at the Waste Management Plant can be incinerated. The remaining 30% ends up in our landfills that are rapidly filling up every day!
Rubbish from landfills are contaminating our underground water supply and polluting the soil. Wind and rain carry plastics from landfills to waterways and back to the ocean.
If we want to keep our oceans clean and our marine creatures healthy, we need to ensure that only the non-recyclables end up in the incinerator and landfill. As for the non-recyclables we need to reduce our over-consumption so that everything we send ends ups being incinerated rather than dumped in a landfill.
How we aim to encourage recycling:
In our beach cleanups and community, we collect and sort rubbish into different categories and then deliver them to our recycling partners.
We aim to transform our present Sorting Yard into a Recycling & Learning Center where we can make useful products from rubbish, host eco-workshops on composting and responsible rubbish management as well as getting the community more involved in recycling and up-cycling projects.
We provide information on where to take recyclables and what will be done with it so that people will be reassured that their rubbish will be recycled effectively.
Phuket’s landfill courtesy of The Phuket News
Video – What can I take to the recycling yard?
Commonly recycled items accepted by all recycling yards
- Hard plastic – containers, bottles, toys, cutlery, cups
- Plastic bottles (PET) – drinking water and beverages
- Glass bottles – jars, containers, bottles
- Cardboard – paper, thin cardboard and cardboard boxes
- Metal – aluminum cans, steel cans, steel, metal bottle caps
- Hazardous – aerosol cans, batteries
Special projects with our recycling partners
- Shoes – all kinds
- Fishing gear – nets, ropes and fishing floaters
- Polystyrene/Styrofoam – clean and dirty, all sizes
- Stretchy plastic bags – zip lock bags, bubble wrap and thick plastic bags
- Tetra packs – milk and juice cartons
- HDPE plastic bottle caps – all kinds and sizes
- Lighters – all kinds
- Plastic beverage cups and containers
- Pet food plastic bags – dry food only
- Plastic refill sachets – from fabric detergents and softeners
- Light bulbs – round bulbs (excluding florescent tube light bulbs)
- Rubber – yoga mats, other kinds of rubber products
Sent to the incinerator and landfill:
- Straws and thin plastic cups
- Thin plastic bags (non-stretch) and plastic food wrappers
- Oil-stained or degraded plastics
Special recycling or disposal:
- Syringes
- Fishing hooks and tackle
- Florescent tube light bulbs
Goals and expected impact:
We aim to encourage at least 50% of the population of the Maikhao District, and eventually Phuket, to sort and recycle their waste by 2024.
We hope to make sorting and recycling easy for everyone and that these projects may inspire greener choices when buying products.
How your donations will be used:
If you would like to donate to this project, feel free to contact us for more details about our budget.
To set up our Recycling & Learning Center with composters, a vegetable garden and learning area
To purchase machinery, such as shredding and heat pressing machines, a glass crusher machine and plastic bottle compacting machine
To cover running and staffing expenses for the Recycling & Learning Center
To hire trainers to conduct the workshops at the Recycling & Learning Center
To cover the expenses involved in collecting, cleaning and delivering these items to our recycling partners across Thailand
