The Navy has opened a
“Zero Baht Shop” where military personnel trade recyclables for home
staples.
Patcharapol Panrak
A Royal Thai Navy division is giving the recycling business a
twist, opening a barter-based shop where military personnel trade
recyclables for home staples.
Rear Adm. Wittawas Na Nakjorn, commander of the Sattahip Naval Base’s
Factory Department, cut the ribbon on the division’s “Zero Baht Shop,”
where the department’s 700 personnel and family members can exchange
recyclable garbage for daily necessities.
Sompong Tancharoenpol, president of the Thailand
Institute of Packaging Management for Sustainable Environment, said the
barter-based recycling center is the first of its kind in eastern
Thailand. Sompong, who also is vice president of the Thailand Industrial
Council, said the navy contacted the TIPMSE to help set up the center
for use by department personnel and the Thungprong neighborhood in
Sattahip.
Wittawas said the Zero Baht Shop’s target audience generates more than
50 tons of garbage per month. Under the navy’s “White Factory, Green
Village” program, officials are trying to educate staffers the value of
recyclables by giving out household items worth the equivalent of the
materials recycled.
TIPMSE, which has opened nine similar centers elsewhere, helped the navy
build and launch the center.
