Recycling?

[Seano88]

I'm not stingy and if it's more hastle than it's worth I won't bother ha! 

I always see people keeping hold of glass bottles, plastic and even cans. 

I always give it to the guy who cycles about looking in the trash But I see my landlady also collecting everyone's bottles, separates the plastic glass and cans into massive bins and then I dunno what she's doing with it. 

What's the score? Where they taking them? How much they getting? Does anyone do this themselves? 

 

Cheers 

 

Sean

[jackdd]

She is selling it

My GF also likes to recycle, so once we collected several bags of PET bottles which she planned to sell. After we had two big bags full of them we took it to the next "recycling company" (no idea how you call it, but if you keep looking for them you will see them) here. We got a whopping 25 THB for our two big bags (5 THB / Kg). After this even my GF decided that it's not worth it, now we still keep it seperate, but just put it out to the trash, sometimes somebody (i assume the people who work here in the moobaan) picks it up and then probably sells it.

I once saw a guy who picked up empty cardboard boxes from 7/11, so i asked him about it. This 7/11 is selling the boxes, he is paying 3 THB / Kg for them to sell them on.

 

[blackcab]

There are commercial recycling facilities in various locations. If you have enough matetial and you speak Thai you can try taking it there and see how you get on.

 

Generally speaking you are talking about just a few baht. The people you see sorting through garbage bags really are poor, and they do it to survive.

 

If you don't need the few baht and would prefer to make a kind gesture, keep donating your material to the man who cycles around. You're probably one of the nicest parts of his day.

[Seano88]

Yeah I always do give it to him. 

I just wondered why my rich arse landlady was also collecting, she owns the whole building, maybe 50 apartments at 5k lowest price a month plus electricity and water wifi etc etc. 

I thought maybe there was loads of money in keeping it. 

Stingy Chinese, guess that's why they are rich ha. 

IL save it all for the old dude on the bike. 

[Nyezhov]

47 minutes ago, Seano88 said:

Yeah I always do give it to him. 

I just wondered why my rich arse landlady was also collecting, she owns the whole building, maybe 50 apartments at 5k lowest price a month plus electricity and water wifi etc etc. 

I thought maybe there was loads of money in keeping it. 

Stingy Chinese, guess that's why they are rich ha. 

IL save it all for the old dude on the bike. 

Back in the olden days in the USA, you could make a fortune being a "junk man".

 

I remember going to football stadiums and seeing high school kids loading dads pickup with deposit cans and bottles at a nickel a pop.

 

Nowadays, they give you a recylce bin, raise your taxes, pick it up and keep the money

[johng]

If you collect beer bottles and a box for the bottles they will give you 12 baht for cardboard box

better money comes from old car and motorbike batteries lead gets a good price..better still is copper wire..but they don't like it to be covered in insulation so some will burn it of others strip it by hand

old mattresses the same much better price for just the metal springs..they even collect old mobile phones I suppose for the gold content...most anything with any value at all will be scavenged from the bins  which is kind of good in one way that we don't have to haul stuff off to an "official" dump site

of course the bad thing is there are very few and far between "official"  dump sites...so lots of stuff just gets dumped in the rivers,fields or over someone else's wall !!!

[Seano88]

Yeah there's a small scrap car place opposite my apartment, they have room for like 5 cars lol. 

[LawrenceN]

Call me a tree-hugger, but, yeah, I recycle plastic bottles, aluminum cans, paper (including cardboard boxes), glass jars and bottles, and steel cans. Also any kind of steel scrap or PVC if I've done a project. For a routine month's output, I get maybe 60 baht. To me, it's just good citizenship and environmentalism to recycle. I'm not doing it for the money. It's not burdensome; we just drop the recyclables out the kitchen window onto the bins in the carport, and take them to the recycling center when we're running errands anyway. We put our recyclables out for the city to take when we lived in Wisconsin. I didn't mind doing it there, and just continued when we retired here.

 

I once took a load of aluminum siding to the recyclers in Wisconsin and got good money for a few hundred pounds of material. It's no different here, just more common as standard practice.

 

The recycling center will also sell you scrap materials. That's where I got the red can I use for gasoline for the lawnmower, and all the rebar I needed when I built a block wall.

 

I like the idea of giving the recyclables to poor people. Maybe we'll start doing that.

Edited January 11, 2019 by LawrenceN
Additional thought

[cucme]

For an alluminium can you will get about 1 Baht, for clean PET bottles about 20 Baht /kg, cardboard alot, but don't know how much, a box with beer bottles about 14 Baht, glas isn't much per kg. That's what you will get at a recycler's yard around Trat.

[Suradit69]

In our condo building, on each floor, there are separate bins for common household trash, for plastic and for glass. Used to be one for paper, but I think they were particularly looking for newspapers which have become rare.

 

Each bin is labeled in English and Thai. It amazes me how many people can't be bothered to separate those things. Just dump anything in any bin. 

[PatOngo]

They seem to have a storage area for waste plastics on every beach in Thailand.

 

[Dap]

On 1/10/2019 at 9:04 AM, Seano88 said:

Yeah I always do give it to him. 

I just wondered why my rich arse landlady was also collecting, she owns the whole building, maybe 50 apartments at 5k lowest price a month plus electricity and water wifi etc etc. 

I thought maybe there was loads of money in keeping it. 

Stingy Chinese, guess that's why they are rich ha. 

IL save it all for the old dude on the bike. 

Maybe she simply cares about the environment.

[tandor]

On 1/10/2019 at 9:56 AM, johng said:

If you collect beer bottles and a box for the bottles they will give you 12 baht for cardboard box

better money comes from old car and motorbike batteries lead gets a good price..better still is copper wire..but they don't like it to be covered in insulation so some will burn it of others strip it by hand

old mattresses the same much better price for just the metal springs..they even collect old mobile phones I suppose for the gold content...most anything with any value at all will be scavenged from the bins  which is kind of good in one way that we don't have to haul stuff off to an "official" dump site

of course the bad thing is there are very few and far between "official"  dump sites...so lots of stuff just gets dumped in the rivers,fields or over someone else's wall !!!

..the Govt should subsidise the collection and recycling of general plastic bags, then things would start to look cleaner and tidier around this country.

[johng]

Unfortunately the "government" can't even organise an election..so probably private individuals/industry initiatives would be more viable.

[unamazedloso]

Its a good thing these people recycle or they would simply burn them. Our neighbours are dirt poor and they burn the plastic bottles. We asked why dont they recycle them likewe do. They said thats what poor people do. Hysterical!
????

[StevieAus]

3 hours ago, LawrenceN said:

Call me a tree-hugger, but, yeah, I recycle plastic bottles, aluminum cans, paper (including cardboard boxes), glass jars and bottles, and steel cans. Also any kind of steel scrap or PVC if I've done a project. For a routine month's output, I get maybe 60 baht. To me, it's just good citizenship and environmentalism to recycle. I'm not doing it for the money. It's not burdensome; we just drop the recyclables out the kitchen window onto the bins in the carport, and take them to the recycling center when we're running errands anyway. We put our recyclables out for the city to take when we lived in Wisconsin. I didn't mind doing it there, and just continued when we retired here.

 

I once took a load of aluminum siding to the recyclers in Wisconsin and got good money for a few hundred pounds of material. It's no different here, just more common as standard practice.

 

The recycling center will also sell you scrap materials. That's where I got the red can I use for gasoline for the lawnmower, and all the rebar I needed when I built a block wall.

 

I like the idea of giving the recyclables to poor people. Maybe we'll start doing that.

A man after my own mind in Aus it was collected weekly or fortnightly along with the garbage.

I have separate bins and cart the stuff to the local recycler where the money I receive doesn’t cover the fuel used.

I would like my local man on the bike to take mine but when left out he doesn’t take it.

Perhaps my wife needs to talk to him or maybe he only wants copper or gold !!

[Burma Bill]

I do my bit to be environmentally friendly and recycle most of my waste, having separate containers for plastic, tins, glass (jars and sauce bottles - not beer), scrap metal/electrical appliances and paper/cardboard. I stack these containers in my pickup and pop down the road to my local recycling agent who weighs everything and quotes a price. I usually get 100 baht. He sells on to commercial recycling businesses. The plastic is usually converted into small pellets which are treated and remolded into new plastic items like those colored chairs commonly used at weddings, funerals and other festivals. 

[BoganInParasite]

There is a large private recycling depot in central Nan city. Happens to be a hundred meters from our rented home. The wife regularly takes up the plastic and glass bottles and aluminium cans. Would rarely get more than 20-30 baht. I once backed my Hilux into it with a load of flattened cardboard boxes, got 97 baht. While in there walked around a bit and was surprised by how well organized it was and what they were taking. In one area they were stripping copper out of old electrical devices. Regularly see a ten wheel truck leaving there loaded to the gunnels with paper and cardboard.

[Goanna]

What the hell? 12 baht beer bottle box? We get 5 baht per 12 bottle big in the box. Without box, 3 baht for 12. Or, we buy box from shop for 1 baht.

[Lacessit]

On 1/10/2019 at 9:55 AM, Nyezhov said:

Back in the olden days in the USA, you could make a fortune being a "junk man".

 

I remember going to football stadiums and seeing high school kids loading dads pickup with deposit cans and bottles at a nickel a pop.

 

Nowadays, they give you a recylce bin, raise your taxes, pick it up and keep the money

My first bicycle was bought out of the proceeds of collecting scrap metal at the local garbage dump. Nowadays, I would be summarily ejected. That's progress.

I recommend caution in Thailand. I suspect some of the plastic here is recycled into food offerings at the 7/11's.

[moreem]

I hope that anybody who is not a total (-put here the word that you want-) give all plastic to the poor guys coming around to collect them !

 

 

[Seano88]

6 hours ago, Dap said:

Maybe she simply cares about the environment.

Yeah OK. With the other 55million people in Thailand or 8 billion in the world. 

Next you will say Apple and Google started to pay fairly and pay taxes. 

[Lacessit]

The 2 litre plastic water bottles are always recycled. Very popular with rural Thais, as they are ideal for bulk lao khao storage.

[Jaxxper]

I think recycling is great. We lived in Canada for 2 years and they have a very established recycling programme with specific venues for taking recycled bottles to. ( I must say though they do charge a "deposit" on each bottle when you buy a product)

My wife was very reluctant to take the bottles there as she claimed that's what people with no money do. Anyway we stored 2 years of PET water bottles and dozens and dozens of wine bottles over the two years in our basement. When it was time to leave Canada I told her we had to take them to the recycling centre. My first trip ( she wouldn't come with me)  with the Jeep fully loaded got us back about $30 Dollars....

When I showed her that I couldn't stop her loading the bottles. In the end after several trips we got back around $150. Worth having I'd say. Needless to say she was well impressed !

Anyway here in Thailand we sell the beer bottles to the Thai equivalent of a UK rag and bone man for like Thb 12 a box, and all of the PET/cans/other glass bottles & containers  we separate out and leave for the rubbish collection guys. At least they get the benefit from it.

I think there is more recycling going on here in Thailand than people perceive whether financial or environment driven I think its good.

[BritManToo]

18 hours ago, Suradit69 said:

Each bin is labeled in English and Thai. It amazes me how many people can't be bothered to separate those things. Just dump anything in any bin. 

Why bother, there are people in Thailand living off your rubbish.

You're just handing the money to the condo management.

[unblocktheplanet]

It's harder to recycle if you live in a condo or apartment but easy-peasy if you live in a house. We rinse our recyclables & separate them in the side yard. When we want to dispose of the evidence, we call our local recycling man. Conveniently, he also works for the BMA garbage unit. We get about B4/kilo.

 

In Canada, we had seven bins. All recycling had to be scrupulously clean and separated. Of course, this means minimal job creation, not even jobs for, say, prisoners. Here, this is simply supply-chain, trickle-down economics: job creation.

 

I'm not a true believer. I don't think recycling will save our dying planet but here recycling is just as easy as throwing it in the trash. Plastic water bottles are the biggest problem. I try not to use them and always ask for a glass of tap water at restaurants.

[Suradit69]

4 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Why bother, there are people in Thailand living off your rubbish.

You're just handing the money to the condo management.

Actually the money goes to the cleaning ladies.

 

Our building employs its own management and they are doing a great job, so even if it went to them that would be fine.  We don't use some external management company or consider the people working here here to be the enemy.

 

Sorry if if that disappoints you or is not your experience.

[Dap]

19 hours ago, Seano88 said:

Yeah OK. With the other 55million people in Thailand or 8 billion in the world. 

Next you will say Apple and Google started to pay fairly and pay taxes. 

Don't know about Apple or Google but my wife and I recycle all of our cans/plastic/glass and newspapers as do many of our friends. It may not be much but it's something and just maybe she thinks so as well. Or not 

Edited January 12, 2019 by Dap