Through Precious Plastic, environmentalist Dominic Puwasawat Chakrabongse hopes to foster a nation-wide circular economy
After earning a bachelor’s degree in environmental policy from the London School of Economics, Dominic Puwasawat Chakrabongse pursued his passion for environment conservation with several NGOs around the globe. On returning to Thailand he was shocked by Bangkok’s overwhelming abundance of trash and decided take action. “I wanted to do something that was community driven and emphasised the circular economy,” he says. “That’s how Precious Plastic Thailand came about. It was born out of this effort to inspire and empower ordinary people across the country to change their perception of plastic and understand that it can be turned into something new and valuable.”
On an unusually cool and crisp afternoon, a group of children are sitting outside in a perfectly manicured garden, learning English. Sunlight reflects off the hulking, eggshell-white walls and holy basil-green shutters of the 122-year-old Bangkok 1899 building in the Nang Loeng district, framing the children and their teacher. Far removed from the city’s tortuous warrens of concrete and chaos, the setting makes you question if only for a moment whether you’ve found paradise.
“You see the young girl sitting over there? She’s nine. Her mom is 17 years old and in jail, again,” he says.
Despite Thailand dubbing itself “the land of smiles,” the country’s sunny facade often masks darker issues: a problematic relationship with refugees, an overwhelming number of at-risk youth, and the taboo topic of disability discrimination.