Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) adopting circular economy

Thailand’s government is working with the United Nations to implement the circular economy, a paradigm of sustainability, in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), the three-province advanced development zone near Bangkok.

The EEC is a model for the new higher-technology, green, and sustainable Thailand the Kingdom’s policymakers are determined to create. Its three provinces are home to 12 advanced industries. Industries, however, are often a source of pollution, and the government wants to ensure the EEC doesn’t generate needless waste.

To do that, Thailand is working with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) with the goal of putting in place systems and measures so that industry will produce zero waste.

“The EEC Office and UNIDO are together developing a circular economy plan for the EEC project which includes provisions for water management and environmental development,” Kanit Sangsubhan, Secretary-General of the EEC Office, told the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Business and Investment Summit in Bangkok last week.

The Circular Economy is a paradigm that calls for careful stewardship of resources that are used to create products that are then recycled or used for other purposes at the end of their life. It replaces the Linear Economy, which prevails in much of the world, in which resources are exploited to make products that we eventually throw away.

Thailand’s SCG, the region’s largest building and construction materials conglomerate, has been adopting and championing the Circular Economy in the region.

“ASEAN aspires to be a major region, and that means it has a responsibility to lead by example. Businesses and society must work together to embrace the idea of zero waste,” Roongrote Rangsiyopash, the President of SCG, said during the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit.

Photo courtesy of https://www.unido.org/news/unido-eec-tgo-seminar-promote-circular-economy-waste-management-and-sustainability