1.2 Kg Trash generated by Bangkokians every day 22% Amount of trash Bangkok generates relative to the whole country. 8.1 Millon Plastic bags Bangkokians use, per day

B1,000 Cost of processing one ton of trash B4,967,665,400 This year’s trash processing budget for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) 95.56% Percent of the BMA’s total budget expenditure this represents.

Source: Pollution Control Department of Thailand

  Top Pipat, founder of Eco Shop by Top Pipat, www.ecoshop.in.th

“I think we’ve seen a dramatic increase in environmental awareness recently. There are more products made from recycled materials, more people buying it and more support from officials. As for recycling, I think many people are capable and willing to contribute. But we are not educated enough about this when we are young. If you look at countries like Japan, children learn about these things at school, see their parents set an example, so it automatically becomes habitual for everyone. We need to do better to motivate people here for real changes to happen.”

53% = Percentage of Bangkok’s municipal solid waste which is compostable organic garbage, like food leftovers and fruit peels. 5% = Percentage of households that practice composting.

	1. Get your small plastic or iron garbage can with a lid. Make 10-15 small holes in the bottom and put it on a tray with a one-inch gap between the two to let air in.
	2. Add in a few inches of dry bedding such as dead leaves, strips of newspaper, coconut coir, or sawdust at the bottom to balance the moisture levels (You might want to keep the dry bedding nearby as you will need to add it later too).
	3. As a beginner, it’s wise to avoid tricky stuff like meat, fish and dairy waste and start with fruit and vegetables. Now put your organic trash in and leave it.

	4. If there’s ever bad odor or liquid leaking into the bottom tray, add more dry bedding.
	5. Every couple of weeks, mix the contents up with a stick to let air pass through it and help the composting process.
	6. Experiment to find the right balance between your trash and dry bedding. The end result is rich soil you can use for your plants.

36,363  color-coded bins were purchased in 2010. 35,000 transparent bins were purchased this year for security reasons. B70 MILLION cost of the new tranparent bins.

	Paper: Office paper (type used for printers) = B5.8/kg Newspapers, Books, Magazines = B3.5/kg Brown box paper = B4/kg Other paper (grossy flyers, brochures and magazine covers) = B1.25/kg
	Plastic bottles: Clear plastic bottles, with PET logo at the bottom = B15/kg Opaque plastic bottles = B17/kg General plastics = B8.25/kg Plastic bags = B1/kg
	Glass: Soda Bottles = B10/box Colored glass = B1.25/kg  Clear glass = B1.50/kg Large soft drink bottle = B2/bottle The price of a liquor bottle highly varies depending on the brand.
	UHT boxes: Juice and milk cartons = B1/kg
	Other: If your trash doesn’t fit into any of these basic categories, don’t give up. Stuff like rubber boots, CDs and any parts of electronic appliances are recyclable too. The priciest trash you can sell is bronze wire at B180/kg

Source: Thailand Institute of Packaging and Recycling Management for Sustainable Environment (TIPMSE).

Chidjai Khemglad Public Cleanliness and Orderliness officer, KLong Toey District Office.

 “Sa leng [private trash collectors who operate on motorized tricycles] in fact make life harder for us. They get to the collection spots before our officers arrive. Because they are not taking the all of the trash, they just scatter it all out from the bin, pick what they can sell and move on, leaving it all out of the bin and all over the ground. Some even stole our bins.”

 Chainiran Payomyam, president of activist group OPAR

B900 million Cost of an incinerator to be built in Nong Kham to be operated by Hong Kong’s waste-to-energy company C&G who currently runs five plants in China.  500 tons Amount of waste the incinerator could burn, per day. 9.8 megawatts Amount of energy that it will generate, to be sold back to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.

 

Chainiran Payomyam, President of activist group OPAR

 “I’m not against the building of the incinerator; it should have been done a long while ago but what I don’t understand is why the BMA doesn’t look to own it. Instead it will hire a private company to operate it, meaning we won’t get the revenue from the waste-to-energy process. And the location is too close to the city, especially with the city’s ongoing expansion. Many people may suffer from cancer-causing dioxins—that’s why it’s important the BMA should own the plant and control its safety.”

 

Top Pipat, founder of Eco Shop, which is a platform for eco-friendly and recycled design products.   “I think everybody knows environmentalism is a good thing. But to motivate people to actually do something about it is another story. I don’t agree with people who say it’s a problem too big for individuals to do anything. If we do nothing, our actions will definitely come back to affect everyone.”	Chidjai Khemglad Public Cleanliness and Orderliness officer, Klong Toey District Office.   “I want people to see public places the way they see their own homes so they won’t litter. We are really lacking a sense of responsibility. We need contributions from every part of society. The least we ask is that people put their trash into the bins. No matter how advanced our technology, if the public doesn’t care it about this, we can never really improve.”	Chainiran Payomyam, President of activist group OPAR   “While people in developed countries are taught to sort their trash in their household, we are taught to put everything in one bag and throw it into a bin. The BMA once said they would have a recycling system for these plastic bags, but we haven’t seen it materialize.”

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) did not grant us an interview for this issue. After postponing several times, they pointed us to a Public Relations fact sheet.

 

I dreamed of being a teacher and never had any other option in mind. Teachers, back then, were seen as the smartest people. They impressed me. Many of my seniors at school were also scholarship students who came back to teach juniors like me. They were so cool. They were my inspiration.

I fell in love with stage plays during my university years. It’s the thing I’ve had the most passion for, apart from being a lecturer. I was always part of the plays my faculty would stage.

The script and the actors are the great combination that make each stage play fascinating. I’m not so familiar with all the stage production techniques. For me, the script and the actors must be a great match.

I followed it up with a debate show on Channel 9, which was a hit; and all these entertainment jobs started coming to me.

My first commercial stage play, Chan Phu Chai Na Ya, was so successful, 30 years ago. People fought to buy tickets! But other plays were waiting to show at the theater, so we finally had to step down after playing more than 200 shows over six months. 

It’s really annoying to see how producers cast actors these days. They only pick people who are hot at that moment instead of choosing them properly for the role. You’ve got plays where the actresses playing the mother and the daughter are only five years apart.

Entertainment these days must have ghosts, ladyboys and comedians. You can’t be serious about serious things if you want to entertain people. That’s why I put all these characters into my new show, Phu Chai Na Ya, Episode: Hua Jai Mai Pen AIDS. It’s the combination of the stage plays Phu Chai Na Ya, which I directed and Hua Jai Mai Pen AIDS which I acted in when AIDS was really new for Thais. 

People used to think AIDS was the disease that God had sent to kill homosexuals. They thought gays were eccentric and deserved to die. But, it was long time ago. Now, as we all know, AIDS can kill anyone. 

Control your lust. All sexually-related problems such as AIDS or abortion are from the fact that you can’t control your lust. 

I was barred from TV because I was gay. There had been this outcry from old-fashioned people who were against the idea of bringing homosexuals on to TV. They wrote to the TV stations that we were like germs that can spread disease to children, making them be like us. The TV executives finally decided to bar me. 

It was the most depressing moment in my life. Why couldn’t these people look at my work instead of crucifying me because of my personality?

You must prove that you’re valuable, especially third gender people. After years of doing hard work as an academic, a marketer, an instructor and an entertainment person, I finally got accepted and had the chance to be on TV again.

I’m glad that homosexuals are now accepted by society. They work in every industry, from doctors to teachers.

I feel nothing about the push to have same-sex marriage law. I don’t feel anything lacking in my life as I have a job, money and a partner. I don’t want to sound selfish, though. I do support this law for those homosexuals who aren’t as lucky as I am. They face difficulties that require the law to protect them.

I feel awkward to show my love in front of everyone. I even feel bashful bringing my partner to sit among friends who are straight and talk about their children, and grandchildren, which we don’t have. I don’t know how to introduce him to them and my partner will feel awkward, too. So we just separate when we go out to party.

The social status for gays is always single, even though we have partners. Just see the invitation cards for wedding parties: it will have only one name written on the card. 

I gave up on politics. I recently stopped my involvement with the People’s Alliance for Democracy. People who I used to admire changed in the wrong way and did things I never imagined they would do.

I have no hope for this country. Representatives vote as they are ordered, not for the people’s benefit. It’s such a waste of our money to pay for electricity and water in the parliament for three days as they know which way they will vote since day one. No one can fight the power of money.

Being loved by my students is the most precious thing for me. And I’ve always loved being a teacher. Now, I’m an instructor at Chulalongkorn, Sripathum and the dean at Naresuan University. 

I never thought that one day I would be a dean, as I figured the university would be condemned for appointing a katoey to be their dean.  

Know yourself and be ambitious, but base it on reality. 

How did Thai Community Lacrosse begin?

In 2011, I was sitting at a coffee shop with my friends. We’d just got back from the States after living there for more than 10 years. We’d played lacrosse there and we talked about bringing it to Thailand. So we set up TCL, an independent non-profit organization to teach lacrosse to slum kids and help them through sport.

What kind of kids are in the program?

Many of them used to sniff glue and some of them used to be in drug gangs. The kids are controlled by the drug dealers who transport the drugs around the slum through the kids.

You must have come across some bad cases?

Yes there is a situation with one fourth grader who used to play with us. His parents are drug addicts and have spent time in jail. One day, he didn’t show up to practice and we found that the reason was his mom had gotten him out of school and forced him to work so she can buy more drugs. We try to help him but it’s a family matter. At the end of the day, this kind of problem is beyond our reach. The school talks to the parents of the kids and suggests our lacrosse program as an after-school activity, but when they get home, it’s a family affair.

What is the toughest challenge teaching these kids?

To make them trust us. The kids have so many random people giving them free stuff at school [as charity] and they never come back. I think they feel unwanted a lot of times. People come and try to be their friends but then they go and they never get to see them again. We tried to gain their trust by practicing three times a week in the first year. We wanted to make them feel like we are always there.

How do you keep in touch with the kids after they leave the lacrosse club?

There are two ways to track the kids. The first is through the school, however we are also trying to develop an alumni of all the previous lacrosse players. Every year, I set up an event for the kids to come and play lacrosse together. Some of them continue their studies while some kids have to work for a living. It’s really up to the kids whether they use the experiences they get from us to change their lives. Many have decided not to get involved with the gangs and have turned into good citizens.

Thai Community Lacrosse, www.tclacrosse.com, 02-348-8379