Why did you bring Trash Heroes to Bangkok?

It started with friends of mine who opened a watersports venue in Samut Prakan. They wanted to create a Trash Heroes network in Bangkok. But I’m careful about allowing people to use the Trash Heroes name. If you can be a Trash Hero easily then it loses value. So any team who wants to be called Trash Heroes must run its operation for some time until it creates a proper community which comes out every week.

So how’s it going?

The first day that Trash Heroes Bangkok went out, two months ago, we attracted more than 200 volunteers who stood on paddle boards and boats to clean up Bang Phli Canal. We cleared 2.5 tons of trash that day! But that was just the beginning. They might come out because of the fun they get with the paddle board but we need to get volunteers to come out every week in the long-term. Now they will gather every Thursday to clean up the Bang Phli area.

After three years of running Trash Heroes, how have things changed?

On Lipe and Lanta islands, Trash Heroes has now become a solidly recognized name that people support strongly. We still go out to clean up trash every Monday, but now we’re more focused on spreading our message about how to reduce waste to begin with. We create products from recycled materials, like bags. We also produce aluminum bottles which we sell through our hotel and restaurant network on the islands and can be refilled for free at our network venues. Each year we calculate how much water is given to those bottles, and have worked out that we can reduce the number of plastic bottles used on the islands by 300,000. We reach out to youth to tell them to reduce their plastic usage, starting by rejecting bags at 7-Eleven.

What do you think is the root cause of all the trash on Thailand’s beaches?

People might blame tourists, but in reality, the trash in our sea actually comes from other countries. We spent four months collecting trash on Rawee Island—about 40 tons in total—and 70% of it came from other countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and others. We even found TVs, refrigerators and giant truck tires. So it’s not just tourism. The ugly truth is, we might be familiar with pictures of dead marine mammals like dolphins, whales and sea turtles, but all the fish we eat are actually contaminated. The problem starts in the city, where people still lack a sense of responsibility. And the problem will never go away unless the government makes decisive laws forcing everyone to separate their garbage.

So what’s next for Bangkok Trash Heroes?

We have been urged to create Bangkok Trash Heroes for so long, but we feel that the city is too big for it to be a success like on an island. So we’ve started doing it by neighborhood. We talk with communities like Bang Kra Chao and Banglamphu to help them form strong Trash Heroes volunteer groups. We plan to clear canals around the Rattanakosin area first. If it’s a success, we may have Trash Heroes of Rattanakosin.