As medical personnel and hospitals around Thailand are still fighting the shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) suits, Less Plastic Thailand and its alliances are now inviting people to donate used PET bottles that can be recycled and transformed into the much-needed PPE suits.
The Yaek Kuad Chuay Mor (translated as recycling PET bottles for doctors) project returns for its fourth edition after the initiative has donated 24,000 PPE suits to healthcare providers nationwide so far.
Less Plastic Thailand kicked off the project last year when Thailand was first hit by the novel coronavirus and medical personnel were desperately in need of PPE suits to protect themselves from catching the virus while attending patients. Back then the project imported recycled fibre from Taiwan and made 5,000 PPE suits for frontline medical workers across the country.
In the second and third editions of the campaign, Less Plastic Thailand joined hands with alliances, one of which was recycling factories. Since then, they have been able to transform used PET bottles into locally woven PET fibres that were turned into 19,000 PPE suits.
The PPE suits made by this recycling method are reusable around 20 times.
Playing a significant role in this project is You Turn Platform by GC, a comprehensive plastic waste management platform whose role here is to collect all used PET bottles in raw material storage before sending them to be processed. The PET fibres are then sent to Thai Taffeta Company Limited for sewing.
There are many PET bottle drop off points located across Bangkok such as Siam Paragon, the Panyapiwat Institute of Management, Get Well Zone shop on Ekamai 26, PTT Station Vibhavadi Rangsit branch, PTT Station Vibhavadi 11 branch, PTT Station Min Buri branch and many more.
Used PET bottles can also be mailed to Yaek Kuad Chuay Mor project, TARF Company Limited (waste management building), 999 Moo 1, Tambon Nong Prue, Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan province. 10540.
The Yaek Kuad Chuay Mor project runs until Dec 25.
For more information, visit facebook.com/lessplasticthailand or facebook.com/YOUTURNPLATFORM.
