By Natthanon Nakkhong

“Economic activities” are a major factor affecting the environment and the balance of ecosystems around the world.

Large shopping centers or department stores are important places, especially for people in big cities where they become a part of their lives and the driving force of the economy. Especially Bangkok, a city with a lot of tourists visiting, consuming various products and services cannot avoid creating various types of waste. 

Invite you to study one of the large shopping malls located in the heart of Bangkok, "Siam Paragon" under Siam Piwat Company has developed a 360-degree waste management project "Siam Piwat 360° Waste Journey to Zero Waste" in the integrated waste management according to the concept Circular Economy (Circular Economy) In using resources with value by recycling them to create maximum benefits.

More people, more garbage 

In Siam Paragon, there are two main types of waste. One comes from the mall itself, from various shops or employees. This part is something the mall can control the most, almost 100 percent, because everyone has to separate their waste. But the second part is important, it comes from customers who use the service. This part is not easy to manage because there are hundreds of thousands of customers using the service every day, and each person has different behaviors, both Thais and foreigners, which creates as much as 30-40 tons of waste per day.

Siam Piwat has therefore conducted research on post-use plastic waste management using the circular economy concept in collaboration with the Plastic Institute and Chulalongkorn University. This has enabled the management of waste from within, but external waste requires cooperation from users. Therefore, 8 types of waste separation areas have been prepared, along with a point collection system, to align with life in the digital age.

Separate waste like “Drive-Thru"

It started with customers’ complaints, “Why do we have to separate the trash?” “It ends up being mixed anyway,” or some people want to throw it away but have nowhere to throw it away. This led to the establishment of a Drive-Thru service point for clean, unused packaging materials (Recycle Collection Center; RCC) with over 8 types of trash cans designed to be easily noticeable, prominent, and brightly colored. It also educates and encourages customers to separate their trash more by giving VIZ coins to customers who drop off their trash at the RCC point, which can be used to exchange for various privileges via the ONESIAM SuperApp. 

You can either bring your trash in your car or take the BTS to dispose of it. There are two main locations at Siam Paragon, the mall with the most customers. The first location is the tour bus stop at the back of the mall. It is a large spot where you can park your car and there are staff to help. The other location is the exit from Siam Paragon to Henri Dunant Road. 

Eight types of waste including paper, glass, aluminum, water bottles (PET), stretch plastic, hard plastic, milk cartons, juice cartons and Multilayer (snack plastic bags, refill bags for various liquids) were taken into the recycling and upcycling process to increase their value back into completely new products and put on display and sold at Ecotopia, a space for environmentally friendly products.

Networking to create sustainability

Because there is still a large amount of food waste that needs to be managed as well, Siam Piwat has collaborated with Chulalongkorn University to use the food collected each day as a soil conditioner using a food waste dryer to take care of trees in the center, replacing the use of chemical fertilizers entirely. It also sends it to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's "Mai The Ruam" project to make compost, or collects it and sends it to the On Nut Mechanical-Biological Waste Disposal Plant to ferment it into gas to generate electricity. 

In addition, aluminum cans were donated to the Prostheses Foundation, income from the sale of cans was used to recycle them for the production of prosthetic legs, and the Pathumwan District Office was joined to collect hazardous waste for proper disposal. The Less Plastic project to separate bottles to help doctors brought clear plastic bottles (PET bottles) to be upcycled to produce PPE sets for medical personnel. The project also joined the Magic Glove Bin X-Wan project with PPP Plastics Thailand to bring clean stretchable plastic back to use again. 

Even waste that cannot be recycled, or so-called orphan waste, is managed to be turned into fuel waste. This is a complete waste management. Therefore, it can be said that every type of waste has its own endpoint, which not only reduces problems but also creates many benefits.

More than just a success in managing waste in shopping malls

“A model” of what Siam Piwat wants to be because waste management is not done for oneself, but for our world, for children in the future. Siam is a place where many people come, so it can help create a wide understanding. In order for customers to see that they are serious, they must prove that they are doing it, with sincerity, until they are accepted. At present, it can become a center for people to separate their waste, as well as changing the behavior of most people in society to start separating their waste more.

“Our world is getting hotter every day. So we have to think about how we can take part in taking care of the world better because we can’t do this alone. Everyone has to work together. We started from within the organization. When employees go back to their families, we help change their family behavior. Customers who come to use our services in our areas gain knowledge and are inspired to go back and help each other because the environment is a matter for all of us…” (Ms. Narathip, Chief Operating Officer, Siam Piwat Co., Ltd., cited in Montchai Wongkittikraiwan, 2022)

“In 2021-2023, the Siam Piwat 360° project was able to manage a total of 1,275 tons of waste, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 7,156 tons, equivalent to planting 753,227 trees.”

What lessons does Siam's waste separation teach us?

  • If you want customers who use the service to help separate the waste, the mall must do it seriously, correctly, and continuously, along with organizing activities that help stimulate or motivate customers regularly.
  • There must always be a destination for waste so that waste separation is valuable and of maximum benefit.
  • Having a network or stakeholders will make waste management more effective than managing it alone.

Reference list

  • SIAM PIWAT. (2021). Siam Piwat 360 Waste Journey to Zero waste project. Retrieved from https://www.siampiwat.com/th/SPW360WasteJourney
  • Monchai Wongkittikraiwan. (2022). Value of Zero. Retrieved from https://readthecloud.co/siam-piwat/
  • Euphan. (2023). Narathip Rattapradit, shopping center 'reduces global warming', aims to become a 'zero waste organization'. Retrieved from https://www.bangkokbiznews.com/lifestyle/judprakai/1083833

illustration

  • Image from https://readthecloud.co/siam-piwat/
Do you like the content of this page?
likedon't like