WEF sponsors Thai youth to create circular economy solutions

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has chosen Bangkok as a hub city for Global Shapers, its youth-led network of circular-economy change-makers, and is sharing their lessons learned worldwide.

The young people selected to participate in the initiative were tasked with finding or developing solutions to the problems of plastic pollution and air pollution. Both problems are serious concerns around the world. In Thailand, the government and a number of corporations have begun taking numerous steps to try and tackle plastic pollution.

Bangkok “was selected as one of four cities to pilot a new initiative to support the development of circular economy solutions tailored to local needs through grassroots efforts,” the WEF said on its website. It described the project as bringing together business and innovation leaders to find local solutions that could be scaled up for global change.

The circular economy is characterized by the “3 Rs”: reduce, reuse and recycle. The strategy is designed to produce resource efficiency that helps return materials and resources to the lifecycle of a product. The goal is to ensure less energy use and less waste, pollution and emissions.

“For months, our Shapers have worked to address how the circular economy could help tackle issues of plastic pollution and clean air in Bangkok and Thailand at large,” the WEF said.

The Forum said that the Bangkok Shapers came away with four lessons learned from their efforts that could be shared with others around the world: synchronize, stimulate, systemize and synergize.

The young people engaged in activities that included mapping innovative startups working on plastic pollution and linking them with each other, building awareness about and support for a citizens-driven Clean Air Bill, creating a circular-economy hackathon, and mobilizing resources among a variety of groups simultaneously.

Photo courtesy of: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/07/bangkok-global-shapers-circular-economy-lessons-cities/