DON’T LET CHULA ZERO WASTE GO TO “WASTE”

BANGKOK – Thousands of environmental campaigns have been dramatically launched in Thailand, by big multinational corporations to smaller organization act by individual groups. Chulalongkorn University, just like other organizations that are attempting to promote environmental friendliness, could face potential challenges in achieving their goals. 

CU wants to create a green university so they came up with many environmental campaigns such as the recycle cooking oil campaign (2013) Chula loves the earth; donate used the mobile phone for recycling (2014) and the latest one, Chula Zero Waste campaign (2017).

The Chula Zero Waste campaign is being handled by many experts from different CU faculties, and the PR program is being handled by Assistant Professor Smith Boonchutima, one of the professors from Communication Arts Faculty. So far, since December last year, this campaign has been promoted through Facebook, the official Chula website and the canteen of both Commarts and Engineer faculties. There is also an Instagram account for Chula Zero Waste, but there is no movement on it yet. Their most active platform is Facebook reaching over 2,000 likes.

Chula Zero Waste focuses on using the 3Rs concept, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle to diminish the amount of waste. The campaign encourages students to say no to plastic bags and to reuse plastic bags or bottles. The campaign also focuses on recycling waste that can be recycled, however, since the process requires engineering and heavy machinery, this part does not directly involve the students.

Many stores in Chula are now taking part in this campaign, including CU stores, CU book store and even 7-11. The participating stores will charge for plastic bags. Furthermore, some CU stores are now providing borrowable tote bags and setting up a drop box for students to donate reusable plastic bags as well as tote bags. The campaign also hopes to reduce waste from plastic bottles by encouraging students to bring their bottles. As a result, water stations have been set up in each faculty along with other places on the Chula campus such as the Charmchuri 9 building. Even coffee shops such as Inthanin, True Coffee and Café Amazon located throughout CU have participated by providing a discount for those who brought their cups.

“We provide some discount for those who participate in the campaign as a reward, and we try to make it more difficult for others who are not doing what we want them to. We take the plastic bags out of the 7-11 as much as we can, and those who insist on receiving the plastic bag will have to pay 2 baht. Some small punishment can create awareness”, said Smith Boonchutima, head of PR.

The first stage of the campaign is to create the awareness.

“Before they can do it, they have to know about it then they decide to do it or not,” said Smith. Many students still lack awareness of the campaign and do not realize the importance of it.

“I’ve never heard of it before, what is it?” said Pattharavadee Thipputsakaew, a student from Commarts.

“I know about the campaign because they were promoting the campaign in the canteen when I was having lunch, but I did not take part because all I know is the name of the campaign,” said Yuanyuan Zeng, a student from Commarts.

“There is a possibility of it becoming a failure because Chula students still stick to their old habits,” said Vanvanach Boonyarattanakornkit, a student that is doing PR for the campaign.

Students as the biggest target group for the Chula Zero Waste environmental campaign, are still not taking action as much as the campaigns had ideally anticipated.

” I have heard about it because I went to the CU store and they told me if I want a plastic bag I would have to pay an extra, I didn’t take the plastic bag but rather than that I didn’t participate in this campaign,” said Patutip Suwansumate, a student from Commarts.

However, the campaign is a five-year plan, and now it’s only a beginning.

“It is not realistic to expect the change of the people’s habit in just five months or even in a year, it is unrealistic.” said Smith. 

The campaign is heavily promoted. However, most of my peers are either not aware of the existing campaigns, or simply think that the movements are not taken seriously and that their little effort will not make any difference. Even those who are part of the campaign have shown a worrying sign in the success of the campaign. Chula Zero Wasted campaign is a five years’ plan, which means there is still time for the battle to prove. However, many reasons indicate that Chula zero waste still has a long way to go.

Smith said that on the international level, we can still see the unfairness of law that neglects those who create the pollution. To keep everything in order, we would need a clear legislation and regulation.

“We have to start within Chulalongkorn university as educated people if we cannot impose our law and regulation on pollution makers on the campus, we are nothing as the educational institute,” said Smith.

The past has shown that green campaigns in Thailand still struggle for its success. Even in educational organizations, many people are not taking environmental issues seriously. Without doing something about, this could lead to even greater problems shortly.

A kind reminder: “Together We Can.”