Phuket Town green team wins award

PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Town Municipality has won top honors in a contest run by the Thai Environment and Community Development Association (Tecda) for having the most outstanding recycling project of 85 government offices and private businesses. Phuket Town Mayor Phummisak Hongsyok explained, “Phuket Municipality was chosen because of its well-organized project plans, which are administered by the project committees.” The municpality’s recycling project, called “Phuket, a pleasant recycling town”, has been running since February last year. “The project includes paper recycling and washing out markets with water [extracted from] from fertilizer made from fresh market garbage, to reduce the amount of sodium hydroxide used,” Mayor Phummisak said. Municipality workers make compost from fresh market scraps and use the water that was added to the compost to hose down the market. The water, laden with bacteria, acts as a deodorizer and can even break down small amounts of organic matter. After letting the “bacterial water” stand for about 15 minutes, workers then rinse out the market with water. The process alleviates the use of sodium hydroxide, the former cleaning agent used by the municipality, which left a residue throughout the market. The solid fertilizer is distributed to schools and the community. The project’s other initiatives include “garbage banks” in each community to separate garbage for recycling, and the annual youth camp to educate youngsters on how to reduce waste and separate garbage for recycling. Other awards given by Tecda went to Ajarn Phoonsri Riengphatthe from Baan Bang Niew School for having the most creative recycling ideas and to Phuket Municipality Health Center officer Pattarawadee Khamphira for her enthusiasm and dedication to the Municipality’s project.