News about Mariam, the dugong, that died of eating plastic and concerns about the impact of micro-plastics that threatens marine life has urged society to realize the environmental damage caused by improper handling of plastic waste. Topped with more severe global environmental situation, it was the starting point for Ichitan Group to partner with Qualy, an eco-friendly home decoration brand, to launch the Ichitan Green Factory Zero Waste project. The project works on bringing damaged and defect plastic bottles from the production process in the factory to go through upcycling process, transforming plastic waste into chic home decoration, reducing burden of natural degradation, as well as reducing plastic waste by more than 10 tons.

Moby, a whale-shaped plastic bag keeper for reuse, is one of many products inspired by the news of whales that died of consuming plastic wastes. The product is created to reflect the problem of plastic waste that threatened marine life. This beautiful blue Moby whale, made from 28 defect PET bottles, is a home-use item that helps us realize how we should be careful in using resources and not making more plastic wastes that would cause an impact on marine animals.

Mr.Viroj Supasoon, Executive Vice President – Factory Department of Ichitan Group Public Company Limited, said, "Both Ichitan Group and Qualy share a common goal of operating the business under the concept of renewable economy to inspire people to see environmental problems that are not very far from their daily lives, not to mention that they affect all – us human beings and living things in the world. Originally, Ichitan Group is committed to do business for sustainable growth. Thus, Ichitan Green Factory uses technology to reduce, replace, treat and renew energy that we received Green Industrial Level 4 certification as a complete green factory that has modified production process to be environmentally friendly, while using energy efficiently. With the goal of reducing waste in production process, we want to increase the value and gain benefit from plastic waste in a creative way.”

Mr.Teerachai Suppameteekulwat, Design Director and Co-Founder of Qualy brand from New Arriva Company Limited, said "Damaged plastic bottle in the manufacturing process from Ichitan normally would be sent to recycle. Following this partnership between Ichitan and Qualy, the process is now changed to upcycle as we aim to create new value for those plastic wastes. Putting design to these newly-upcycled products is to add beauty, attractiveness and touchable point that would allow consumers to be opened and accept a new life of these plastic wastes. It is also a way to communicate our good intention to reduce waste through a collection of animals – whale, seahorse, and polar animals – affected by plastic waste problem under the sea according the shocking news reported all over the world. The collection also includes clouds and forests as well.

"The Ichitan x Qualy partnership through the Ichitan Green Factory Zero Waste project sets to use 10 tons of plastic waste, which is equivalent to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 52,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide and can be compared to 30 rai of new plantation or 3,000 teak trees planted,” added Mr.Viroj.

Ichitan and Qualy agree that this partnership will kick the first door open for a change in our society. If this project can spark ideas for various organizations to become aware of how they can bring wastes from their production to transform into valuable products, developing new things out of them and helping the environment a little bit more, we consider that a success.

Thailand is currently the 6th largest producer of plastic waste in the world. If we do not tackle this problem systematically, it will cause an environmental problem that is hard to solve. The Ichitan Green Factory Zero Waste project is focused on reducing waste throughout the production process. It is how we want to show our strong intention as entrepreneur in reducing wastes and reducing the use of plastic in a very concrete way. We want to inspire people in our society to change behavior and get together to collaborate in using resources responsibly. And that would lead to how we can reduce the impact on the environment in every activity in our daily life and maintain a good quality of life with sustainable development.

For project information, please click to see the video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdDsBnntQD4