At a seminar at the Phuket Provincial Office on January 28, environmental experts added to the concern about garbage disposal on the island. Monthip Srirattana Tabuganon, Deputy Director-General of Natural Resources and Environment Ministry’s Department of Environmental Quality Promotion singled out glass waste as one of the top concerns. According to the Development of Environment and Energy Foundation (DEE) glass comprises at least 15% of the total weight of waste generated on the island.

This is especially worrisome as glass cannot be incinerated. In fact, glass entering the system at the incineration plant at Saphan Hin can cause damage to the furnace. Luckily then, a firm from Bangkok plans step in and take the unwanted glass of Phuket's hands. The white-knight is a company called ‘Bangkok Glass’ which already runs glass recycling projects around Thailand, placing containers in school and institutions where glass jars and bottles can be placed into compartments, sorted by colour.

Bangkok Glass pays for the scrap- at rates higher than it is initially offering on Phuket-, and then collects all the waste glass. “There are so many us to start the project on Phuket,” Khun Phantida, PR Manager for the Bangkok Glass company told the Phuket Post. “To begin with, there is so much glass littered about on beaches and carelessly thrown onto empty plots of land, when it’s perfectly reasonable to collect and recycle it. In fact, it is a criminal waste not to do so.”

It is hoped that when the containers are placed in similar places on Phuket it will result in a rush to fill the containers. Once the project catches on, the price for scrap glass will rise, assures Khun Phantida Witharyaphalert. “At present the 'garbage sorters' on the street don’t bother with glass- certainly not as much as is needed, to help the environment on the island,” she said. “We hope to change that.”

“One such container is already in place in the Or Bor Tor yard at Rawai for some years, but it has been under-used,” Khun Phantida informed the Post. “This recycling idea for Rawai was one of the most forward looking plans of Khun Aroon Solos, past and present, president of Rawai Or Bor Tor. There may be other initiatives like it around the island. Some tessabans also have containers. This should give us, and them, a kick start to getting the the glass off the street and back in use.”