Innovation

The innovation is the Clay Toolbox which they invented to help collect organic waste and transform it into fertilizer for the soil during cultivation. Clay Toolbox was invented to avoid the hassle of needing a physical place for the waste collections and to accommodate the decomposition process which traditionally required open land and was time-consuming. Clay Toolbox takes care of the above needs by having a vertical tower with multiple levels to collect and store the organic waste and to facilitate the natural process of decomposition of waste without much effort. This eliminates the need for a big open space, much workforce to dig a hole on the ground and the hassle of managing the entire process which is a tedious task.

the co-founders

Inspiration

Nita (the co-founder) said: “I found inspiration from late King of Thailand who focused on sustainable living which he introduced before the UN came up with its Sustainable Development Goals’’. Nita and her co-founder have been recognized and also visited multiple events and got much-needed support from its people. Their vision is ‘’We envision the world practicing the culture of sustainable living through connecting waste back to resource’’. They are inspired by zero-waste management on making organic waste management imperative and necessary in every home, in every organization, and every place. They offer examples, advice, knowledge, and technology to help transform organic waste into organic fertilizer to promote healthy soil and raise its quality in a natural way.

Overall impact

Their mission statement is ‘’To create an alternative waste management system that is driven by the people for the people through 1) raising awareness 2) providing and developing tools for waste management 3) increasing the value chain of waste with the design.’’ When they started in a small space and wanted to focus on quality food production and improve the quality of soil on the farm by waste management, they collected organic waste around 30 kg daily from vendors and used it for making compost for the land and use it as manure. Collection of waste daily was a difficult task, and they wanted to encourage people to collect themselves and came up with the idea of making a box which can store waste for longer duration made from natural material.

Toolbox helped the small vendors and restaurants to manage the collection of waste in an easy way. The product is made of natural elements and causes minimal to no negative impact on the environment. Also, Pak Done is moving into a waste management consultancy business to provide knowledge and tools to make people or organizations manage waste by themselves. Short-term effect of this was helping 350 families, four schools, one learning center, two governmental organizations, two international organizations, two hotels & resorts, and one restaurant to manage their waste collection process. Long-term term effect will include ensuring that the entire region follows this waste management process and spreading this practice to other regions of the country. Moreover, Pak Done is continually innovating their approach in order to manage the entire life cycle of waste in the best way possible. The above mentioned short term effect is a clear indicator of how they were able to create a positive impact in a short period; the pictures below show how they have been working in one of the schools to spread awareness and implement waste management. Also, their Facebook page has multiple examples to showcase as evidence for the excellent work they have done so far in the region where they operate.

Business benefit

Since its start in 2017, Pak Done has been recognized for its work. The co-founders have had the opportunity to visit multiple events and received support from her community as well. This year they have become profitable after being in business for two years. They currently employee 4 to 6 people and have plans to expand into a different location. They can provide waste management training/consulting to farmers and restaurants and small and medium level organization in self-management of waste to benefit the land instead of the waste ending up in landfills or wasteland. In turn, they charge for the service they provide and the tools they provide to facilitate a natural and efficient way of organic waste management. Part of their business plan is to spread awareness offline and online and to visit multiple locations to spread the message and attract more customers.

They also plan to diversify their portfolio by selling products made from waste and recycled products which can be used in a different form to benefit the people and society. Income earned is used to run the business and pay wage and give workshops to attract more business which helps them to scale the business up.

Social and environmental benefit

They aim to create an alternative waste management system that is driven by the people for the people through the inspiration from their late King of Thailand and the UN Sustainable Development Goals by the following steps:
1) Raising Awareness
2) Providing and developing tools for waste management
3) Increasing the value chain of waste with design

Pak Done thus addresses the following UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities; SDG 12 Responsible consumption and production; and SDG 15 Life on land.

Interviews

Manita Wiwatsetthachai, Co-Founder

Ornsaung Butrnak, Co-Founder