Dr. Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT); Mr. Supattanapong Punmeechaow, President & Chief Executive Officer of PTT Global Chemical and Mr. Javier Goyeneche, Founder and CEO of the ECOALF Foundation, have launched the “Upcycling The Oceans, Thailand” project.
The goal is to help organise and coordinate all of the fishermen and beach-cleaning associations in Thailand in order to collectively arrange an organized trash collecting system. The project aims to tackle the problem of plastic waste in Thailand’s coastal and island tourist areas with an innovation that offers excellent environmental value.
Mr. Javier Goyeneche, Founder and CEO of the ECOALF Foundation, said, “The ECOALF Foundation implemented our first ‘Upcycling The Oceans’ project in Spain in 2015. By partnering with the federation of fishermen, we managed to transform plastic debris found in the Mediterranean Sea into a fashion collection under the ‘ECOALF’ brand, which received overwhelming response from consumers. We are now expanding the project’s success by replicating it in other countries affected by marine debris. Thailand is the first country in Asia where we decided to implement our ‘Upcycling the Oceans’ project.
An ECOALF Jacket – Made from plastic bottles.
Plastic pollution on a Thailand Beach The management of the entire process, from waste collection, through the transformation into raw material, and making clothing and fashion collections, will be completely done in Thailand. Another of the project’s aims is to raise awareness of the negative impact of improper waste disposal on the oceans. Currently, there is about 269,000 tons of plastic waste in the world’s oceans, representing around 2.25 trillion pieces of litter.”
