The key to acquiring permits in this local context was strong personal relationships with the appropriate stakeholders rather than the details of bureaucratic paperwork. After a year of building trust with officials from six different government agencies, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was agreed upon with the City of Bangkok that allowed indefinite operations within a defined scope and area.

Fifty prospective sites with diverse characteristics – from large rivers and urban areas to small tributaries and rural land – were considered before Lat Phrao Canal was chosen. Site evaluation criteria included high pollution levels, operational accessibility, room for future expansion, and most importantly, an eager and welcoming community that wanted to participate.

After the site was selected, a variety of technologies and processes were considered under the common baseline requirements that infrastructure be manufactured locally with durable materials and have a modular and easily repaired design. A series of metal trash traps serviced manually by boat met the baseline requirements and emerged as the best fit for the urban channelized environment of Lat Phrao Canal.

Maintenance costs exceeded initial budget allocations as more frequent repairs were required than expected and raw materials experienced steep price increases over time. Efficiencies in daily operations servicing the trash traps and sorting waste were achieved by training, investing in, and empowering employees.

Considerable time and space were dedicated to detailed data collection protocols that included sorting recyclables into polymer and item type classes and random sub-sample sorting of the non-recyclable fraction of collected plastic. This level of detail in data collection is not always feasible for a project but in this case proved to be worth the effort when these data were critical in the audit process to receive plastic credit certification.

High leakage rates in Thai landfills inspired a “No Waste to Landfill” policy where all captured plastic was either recycled or sent to a waste to energy plant. Before selecting the waste to energy plant ultimately used (that adhered to stricter European standards), dozens were toured and thoroughly vetted because of high distrust in an industry that is notorious for vast variations in quality and sustainability.

Community engagement included activities such as empowering local leadership with decision making responsibilities, hiring local catering services at events, and providing assistance to surrounding neighborhoods during emergencies like floods. Operations team members – all local residents with troubled pasts – were provided with reliable employment, fair wages, official uniforms, and safety equipment, which helped them to feel pride, gain community respect, and build a better life.

Capacity and expertise limitations made it a challenge to leverage communications efforts like social media campaigns, films, celebrity partnerships, and news coverage as fundraising tools and lowered their priority compared to operational and financial efficiency improvements. Education programs that established recycling centers at schools paired with sustainability lessons for the students were so successful that they became the fastest expanding component of the project.

The majority of funding was provided by international sources (mainly from the United States) including family foundations, individual donors, grants, and corporate gifts, in part because philanthropic giving at any level is not common in the local Thai culture. A reliable fundraising stream was hosting paid corporate social responsibility (CSR) events sponsored by companies whose employees visit the site and participate in hand-on, gamified project operations.