The Plastic Offset Program (POP) was created by Starboard, and so far we have been the only ones to create such a program. POP allows us to be more responsible for the plastic used within our business’s products, as well as our production processes.
Plastic Problems
Every day, our POP team heads out to collect trash from the shorelines of Thailand. They’ve found not only a few bits of trash, but tons of it. Many types of waste they have found include; plastic bags, plastic cups, plastic straws, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, tires, ropes, fishing nets, Styrofoam, glasses, lighters, flip-flops, etc. Mostly, the plastic found is from the nearby fresh markets which have improper waste management.
“Wastewater including plastic waste and general waste is released from Laem Chabang Industrial Estate, Laem Chabang Housing, and Villages through the canal and end up in the sea”.
Plastic Mitigation
What an amazing team! Our POP team has helped to clean up 1.4 kg ocean trash per every board sold. Furthermore, with such a strong and determined team, they were able to reach an immense goal! The journey for the team has been hard but it has been worth it in terms of attitude change and clean up!
Words From The Team
Rung, a POP team member stated that…
“When I joined POP, I changed my behavior of throwing the trash into the sea and reduce the amount of trash in my daily life. I’ve told my wife and friends to help reduce trash too. Although we hit the target, there is still a lot of trash on the beach. We just help clean up a little amount from tons of trash. We should continue to clean up. I think we have to put fishing nets to block trash from canals before releasing trash into the sea and it is easy to collect trash. The municipality has to come and collect trash in order to see the problems and plan for proper waste management in the city. For the best way of reducing waste at sources, we have to stop using plastic and throwing the trash into the sea.”
If you have found a solution to clean up marine litter, please let us know. We would like to invite you to join us and collect even more trash. Contact us on blue@star-board.com to become a part of the Plastic Offset Program!
