Phitsanulok: a Model ASEAN City
The ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable Cities (ESC) Model Cities Programme is a regional initiative funded by the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) that encourages and supports innovative and voluntary bottom-up initiatives through capacity building, training and other methods. In so doing, the programme aims to support ASEAN countries in the creation of model cities to serve as examples across the region of how local governments can take the lead in pursuing sustainable development at the local level.
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The story of a Phitsanulok Recycling Company
Dr. Somthai Wongcharoen, a successful businessman in Phitsanulok, deals with recyclable waste. He started his business as a young man, roaming around with a small pick up car to collect recyclable wastes. Nowadays he is the owner of the Wongpanit Garbage Recycling Separation Business (established in 1974), estimated worth of hundreds of million Baht. The Wongpanit Company buys waste from local residents and sells recyclable materials to recycling factories in Thailand, Burma, China, Singapore and England.
The Wongpanit Company is very well known in Phitsanulok and its surrounding area, and has successfully encouraged residents to consider garbage as ‘black gold’, selling recyclable materials that were once rejected by most people before. Many interested people, including representatives from the solid waste sector of Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA) and the Ministry of Science and Environment, have visited this company to learn how to develop a successful recyclable waste business. For more details, see Bangkokpost.com and The Waste Recycling Business. |
Dr. Somthai Wongcharoen
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