Plastic Free Phuket
Recycle rubbish collected off the beach into 9 different recyclable categories. These are then sent to groups around Thailand which recycle them into new products.
Background
Plastic Free Phuket has continued to perform weekly beach cleans. Our attendance has grown! We now average over 50 participants per week. In order to encourage and maintain participation in our community, we gave student designed “Plastic Free Phuket” t-shirts to participants who have attended 10 beach cleans.
Beach cleaning has allowed us to spread our love for the environment while educating in a hands-on manner. We plan to spread the beach cleaning aspect of our initiative across various communities in Phuket in order to increase sustainable awareness.
How They Made A Difference
On October 26, we met with the Governor of Phuket, Narong Woonsiew, to propose an island wide plastic bag ban. During the meeting, we advocated for legislation to enforce sustainable practices in Phuket and preserve Phuket’s natural beauty. The meeting was fairly successful and the Governor commended our work. The first step that he took in response to our proposal was to set up a conference consisting of the relevant government personnel, school administration for around the island, and sustainability experts in Phuket. In this conference, we presented our plastic bag ban proposal as well as answered the concerns and questions of the attendees.
In follow up to the conference, we invited the attendees of the meeting to a sustainable night market on January 13 as a way to show what sustainability could look like under the legislation of a plastic bag ban. Pictured below is the first meeting we had with Governor Narong.
How The Project Made A Difference for the Volunteers
We are incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to pursue our passions and ideas through this project! Throughout the process we have been challenged, come to dead ends, and changed course several times.
However, we have grown as leaders, people, and sustainable advocates. As our core leadership team graduates from UWC this May, we don’t want to say goodbye to the Plastic Free Phuket project, but we know it is in good hands as we pass it on to Grade 11’s who will surely take it to great places!
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Thank you GOMAD team for believing in this project and helping us to purse a more sustainable Phuket.